October 21st, 2012 – Hong Kong Customs announced Saturday that it had found 1,209 elephant tusks smuggled in two shipping containers from Kenya and Tanzania. Seven people were arrested in what customs said was the biggest such bust in Hong Kong history.

The tusks, valued at $3.4 million, are used for making ivory ornaments. A single tusk can fetch thousands of dollars on the black market.

Most large seizures of illicit ivory from Africa have originated from either Kenyan or Tanzanian ports. Large-scale seizures have gone up in recent years — 13 in 2011, compared to 6 in 2010.