Chinese nationals arrested for smuggling ivory in Kenya

July 2008. Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) officers, in collaboration with the Kenya Airport Authority, arrested three Chinese Nationals with 2.2kilograms of processed ivory at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, Nairobi.

The three Chinese were travelling to Harare; they were arrested and taken to the JKIA police station when they failed to produce any valid CITES permits allowing them to travel with the ivory.

In the recent past several arrests and ivory seizures have been made.
 - 13th July 2008, Kenya Airports Authority officers recovered 2 pieces of raw ivory weighing 0.5 Kgs. The suspect was attempting to smuggle the ivory to China through Doha.
 - 14th May 2008, Kenya Police at JKIA arrested 2 people in possession of Elephant Tusks pieces weighing 110 Kilograms destined to China.
 - 24th January, 2008 Customs officials at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport seized an assortment of ivory products weighing 83.5 Kgs, destined to the Asian markets.