Authorities confiscate three smuggled elephant tusks

AMMAN — Authorities on Monday seized and confiscated three elephant tusks smuggled into Jordan for trade purposes, according to a conservationist.

The Rangers proceeded to the confiscation after tracking down Jordanians who were selling the elephant tusks on the Internet, said head of the Law Enforcement Section at the Royal Society for the Conservation of Nature (RSCN) Abdul Razzaq Hmoud.

“Following the confiscation made on Monday at 12:00am, those involved in the illicit trade of ivory are now in custody. The Rangers handed us the elephant tusks today,” Hmoud told The Jordan Times, noting that the elephant tusks originate from a non-neighbouring African country, without revealing further details.

"The tusks are some 12-centimetre long, which indicates that the elephants poached for their tusks are young."

This the third case of elephant tusks’ confiscation since the start of the year, he said.

Those involved in the illicit trade are two Arab nationals, Hmoud said citing investigators.

In early January, the Preventive Security Department’s personnel confiscated two elephant tusks and unlicensed firearms during a raid on a house in Zarqa Governorate's Rusaifeh. Following reports of a person in possession of unlicensed firearms, the security forces confiscated the materials and referred the suspects to the judiciary.

“Trade in elephant tusks is illegal as elephants are globally endangered and are listed under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora [CITES],” Hmoud underscored.

Because ivory trade is illegal, tusks are usually sold for hefty amounts of money in the black market with one kilogramme of raw or un-worked ivory being sold for $3,000 to $8,000 in the black market, according to the RSCN.

Hmoud said that the society is going to notify the CITES Secretariat in Geneva with the confiscation noting that, in such cases, a representative of the secretariat usually oversees the destruction process of the ivory tusks to prevent any illegal trade.

The tusks will remain in the possession of the RSCN and will not be sent back to their country of origin in order to prevent trade, the society said.

This year’s two confiscations were the first to be recorded in Jordan for least the past five years, according to the society. 

In 1978, Jordan became a signatory to the CITES, a global agreement between governments aiming to ensure that the international trade in wild animals and plants does not threaten their survival, according to the convention’s website.

Meanwhile, the 2002 Agriculture Law prohibits trade in wild animals unless a permit is issued allowing the export or import of the animal through the Kingdom, according to the RSCN.