You must have heard that three tonnes (511 tusks) of elephant Ivory worth Ksh 564 million were found at a port in Thailand while in an 11 tonnes teal leaves container shipped from Kenya. This is the second largest haul nabbed from Africa by authorities in Thailand within one week.
The tusks destined for Laos were nabbed at Thailand’s Eastern port city in Chonburi Province.
But details are now emerging from the availed documents from the Thai customs officials. According to the documents, the container was shipped from Mombasa by a company called Indochina International Group Limited using container number FCIU5235796.
The shipment left Mombasa on 24th March on a container ship christened CAPE MOSS which is registered in Marshall Islands. The ship arrived in Colombo Sri Lanka on 6th April before heading for Pork Klang in Malaysia where it docked and the onward cargo was transferred to RHL. FELICITAS. The Liberia registered boat docked with the cargo at Laem Chabang port on 25th April.
All through from Colombo, the cargo movement was under watch as the authorities in Sri Lanka, Singapore and Thailand were informed of the suspicious cargo.
The cargo was addressed to Laos registered Soupha Song Import-Export Co. Limited. While in Laos, the cargo would have been sold in China and other Asian countries where there are no regulations on ivory sale.
It is not clear where the ivory from over 250 elephants came from but President Uhuru burned some 15 tonnes of ivory some few weeks back. The move was hailed as landmark but it might just be as