Uganda seize contraband shipment of ivory and pangolin scales

Uganda seized a contraband shipment of ivory and pangolin scales it said was the largest the country had ever taken, with a market value estimated at more than $8 million.

The ivory and pangolin scales were discovered inside hollowed-out logs in the Ugandan capital, Kampala, authorities said on Thursday.

Two Vietnamese men, suspected of smuggling, were detained.

The illegal cargo was discovered after the Ugandan Revenue Authority (URA) officers scanned three six-meter containers carrying timber logs which had crossed the border from South Sudan.

After growing suspicious, a team secretly tailed the cargo to a warehouse in Kampala and made the bust.

The elephant tusks and pangolin scales were concealed in hollowed-out logs packed in three containers, which authorities opened on Thursday.

Ugandan authorities have stepped up monitoring and seizures of contraband harvested from endangered wildlife as criminals collude with corrupt police to smuggle cargo from Congo and South Sudan, where state authority is fragile.

“In one container alone, we have found 762 pieces of ivory and 423 kilograms of pangolin scales,” URA spokesman Vincent Seruma said. “We are still investigating to find more culprits.”

The shipment was headed for Vietnam, Seruma said.

The value of contraband found in the one container they have opened is estimated at $3.5 million. The market value of all three containers is expected to reach at least $8 million, Seruma said.

“It is our biggest-ever such seizure in one go,” he said.

The little-known pangolin is the world's most trafficked and poached mammal because of the demand for its meat and scales.

The scales are often used in traditional Chinese medicine and its meat is eaten in several countries in Asia and Africa.

The illegal ivory trade is the third most profitable form of trafficking after narcotics and weapons.