3 Chinese nationals arrested at JKIA on transit to China with processed ivory and lion teeth valued at Sh260,000

Three Chinese nationals were Sunday arrested at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport while carrying processed ivory and lion teeth valued at Sh260,000.

The three male travellers were checking out headed for China when they were intercepted at the screening point. They had ivory in form of bangles and lion teeth as necklaces.

Police said it is criminal and illegal to own such trophies in Kenya and it is not clear where they got them.

Officials said they also found more ivory concealed in cooking foil and concealed in a condom.

"It is clear they knew what they had was illegal and hence the reason for the concealing. They will take plea on Monday," said Airport head of DCI Joseph Ngisa.

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The development comes in the wake of sustained campaign to stop the trade on the ivory. Kenya has issued a 21 day amnesty on anyone with such trophies to surrender them.

Last week, police seized a transit cargo that had ivory valued at Sh6.4 million. The cargo was from Maputo, Mozambique and destined for Bangkok, Thailand.

According to police the ivory was concealed in a luggage that had been disguised as gemstones.

Police say the 18 pieces of raw ivory was discovered at the screening centre prompting the seizure.

No arrest has been made after the Tuesday seizure.

Ivory trade is illegal. The seizure is the latest in a series to happen in the region.

The development comes ahead of the planned destruction of 120 tonnes of ivory at Nairobi National Park on April 30, the largest stockpile to be destroyed at a go by any country.

This will be the climax of a summit involving heads of state, conservation experts, philanthropists and corporate leader including Richard Branson, that President Uhuru Kenyatta has set for April 29-30.

The aim of the summit, to take place at Mount Kenya Safari Club in Laikipia is to develop a continent-wide response to illegal-wildlife trade.

Last week, a suspect was arrested in Nairobi after being found with 39 elephant tusks valued at more than Sh11 million.

The international trade in elephant ivory, with rare exceptions, has been outlawed since 1989 after elephant populations in Africa dropped from millions in the mid-20th century to some 600,000 by the end of the 1980s.

Ivory trade is banned under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES).

East African nations have recently recorded an increase in poaching incidents.

The illegal ivory trade is mostly fuelled by demand in Asia and the Middle East, where elephant tusks and rhinoceros horns are used to make ornaments and in traditional medicines.

Africa is home to an estimated 472,000 elephants, whose survival is threatened by poaching and the illegal trade in game trophies, as well as a rising human population that is causing habitat loss.