980 Elephant Tusks Seized
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WINDHOEK, Namibia — Police said they made Africa’s biggest seizure of illicit ivory Saturday in Namibia, arresting 22 suspected smugglers in the pre-dawn operation. About 980 elephant tusks and 14 rhino horns weighing more than seven tons were seized in a series of raids, police spokesman Colonel Johan Meintjies said.
“This is the biggest haul made in Africa and could be the biggest ever made,” he said.
Meintjies said the ivory had been transported Friday in a refrigerated vegetable truck from Rundu on the Angolan border to Okahandja, near Windhoek, before the police launched their raids.
He said the nationalities of the 22, who included whites and blacks, were not yet known but six were Portuguese-speaking.
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