By LINAH BENYAWA and ALLY JAMAH

Mombasa, Kenya: Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) employees have seized 638 pieces of ivory valued at Sh100 million at the port of Mombasa.

Police said nobody was arrested when containers full of the commodity were seized at the port on Tuesday evening.

KRA officials believe the two-tonne haul could have originated from Tanzania since some gunny bags bore logos of Tanzanian companies.

KRA Regional Co-ordinator Fatuma Yusuf said they got a tip off from their Nairobi office about a container at the port carrying ivory.

“We suspect some of the ivory impounded was from Tanzania since the gunny bags had logos of a Tanzanian company while some are from Kenya. The number of ivory shows  about 319 elephants were killed by poachers,” said Yusuf.

The consignment was staffed in a 20-feet container and was destined to China aboard vessel MV LalaBahadur.

The ivory was destined for China and the consignment  was intercepted just before it was loaded into the vessel. The exporters were Ngindo General Trading and they had used a fake entry to get the consignment into the  port,” she added.

Meanwhile, it has emerged the ivory haul seized in Mombasa on Tuesday is linked to the same people behind another stash seized in Hong Kong, China.

The Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) has revealed documents seized in the two incidents involved the same exporter, clearing agent and consignee.

KWS Director William Kiprono told The Standard that exporter of the Mombasa haul is Mwalilo General Trading Company, while clearing agent is Three-Way Freighters with the consignee being P T Kundur Karyacom in Indonesia, all of which were involved in the Hong Kong seizure. East African Commercial and Shipping Ltd were handling them.

In Mombasa, port authorities captured 638 pieces of ivory with an estimated value of over Sh100 million, while in Hong Kong 779 pieces of high-grade ivory worth an estimated Sh112 million were seized.

“It is clear the same people are behind this illegal trade  that we  are  fighting. Investigations are ongoing and we are getting new leads. We expect more people to be arrested soon,” he said yesterday.

The Mombasa haul disgused as decorative stones, was caught by Kenya Ports Authority officials and Kenya Revenue Authority and was  shipped out. It allegedly originated from Tanzania and its believed to be on its way to Asia.

384 elephants

Kiprono revealed last year saw the highest number of elephants killed in the country with 384 elephants and 19 rhinos felled as compared to 2011 in which 289 elephants and 29 rhinos were killed.

“The price of ivory and rhino horns continues to rise in the black market leading to increased poaching of elephants and rhinos. We are engaging China and other Asian countries to help us bring down the demand,” he said.

He dismissed claims the huge amounts of ivory seized recently may be originating from government stockpile released by unscrupulous officials out to make big money from the sky-high prices in the black market.

KWS Spokesperson and Director of Conservation Paul Mbugua said Kenya would insist the international ban on the ivory trade stays on when 177 countries meet in Thailand in March this year.

“Some countries want the moratorium relaxed or lifted, but we will be pushing to keep the ban,” he said.