Two Tonnes of Elephant Ivory Tusks seized in Vietnam

Nairobi — Efforts are being made to establish whether the two tonnes of elephant ivory tusks seized in Vietnam originated from Kenya.
The haul was destined for China, according to state-linked media reports. Customs officials claimed that the ivory was illegally imported from Kenya.
"We don't have independent factual information about the origin of the ivory beyond news reports. We are still making efforts to verify. "Therefore, we can't as yet confirm that the ivory originated from Kenya," Kenya Wildlife Service corporate affairs manager Paul Udoto said on Thursday.

The tusks were hidden in 400 plastic sacks and covered with dry seaweed, said the VNExpress online news site, citing the customs department.
It said the tusks were found in two containers at the northern Haiphong Port on Tuesday. Customs officials refused to comment on the case when reached by AFP.
There is a booming black market in African ivory linked to Asian crime syndicates, experts and delegates said in March at a UN wildlife trade meeting.
Ivory trade has been banned since 1989, with the exception of a few one-time sales, but there has been a dramatic surge in illegal trafficking since 2005.
Officials in Vietnam seized up to five tonnes of elephant tusks smuggled from Tanzania in March last year, state media said at the time.Last July, six businessmen were charged with smuggling 11 tonnes of ivory in Tanzania.

AirAsia X to launch hub in Middle East-31 July, 2009

AirAsia X to launch hub in Middle East

KUALA LUMPUR -Budget airline AirAsia X has raised the possibility of establishing a new hub in the Middle East, enabling its network to extend to north Africa and Europe.

The Age reports that AirAsia X's CEO Azran Osman-Rani said a location had already been chosen in a Gulf state but that it would not be disclosed for several weeks.

"This will open up completely new markets, and we won't always have to have the planes based in Kuala Lumpur, which limits us to an eight-hour radius," Azran told reporters.

"There will be many in the aviation industry who think this is crazy because the traditional low-cost model is to do only point-to-point flights... to keep it simple," he said.

Azran said AirAsia X would hire existing services for cargo, catering and maintenance.

Initially, the carrier will operate flights from Kuala Lumpur to the Middle East hub, before branching out next year by using it to jump to destinations that could include Morocco, Turkey, Spain or the Czech Republic.

Azran said the plan was also triggered by potential problems accommodating new aircraft, amid doubts that Malaysia's airports authority will complete a new low-cost carrier terminal in Kuala Lumpur by 2011 as scheduled.

"It will relieve the pressure of having all our planes in Kuala Lumpur, especially if the new airport is not finished and we do not have enough parking bays," he said.

Tonnes of elephant tusks smuggled into Vietnam: reports

HANOI (AFP) — Vietnam customs officials have uncovered up to five tonnes of elephant tusks smuggled in from Tanzania, state media said Saturday.

The tusks were found Friday hidden in around 114 boxes of plastic waste after being transported from Africa through Malaysia to Vietnam's northern Hai Phong port, said the Tuoi Tre newspaper.

The Thanh Nien newspaper quoted Dang Tat The, a national wild animal expert, as saying the tusks were from African elephants.

It was not yet clear if the tusks were for selling in Vietnam or if they were smuggled in for onward movement, the papers said, but officials were chasing the owner of the goods.

Ivory and ivory-based products sell well in Vietnam, with the main buyers including Chinese, Thai and local and overseas Vietnamese, wildlife trade monitoring organisation Traffic said last month.

According to a Traffic survey, ivory prices in Vietnam could be the world's highest, with tusks reportedly selling for up to 1,500 dollars per kilogram and small, cut pieces selling for up to 1,863 dollars per kilogram.

The trend has put elephants in Indochina under increasing threat, it said, adding that wild elephant numbers in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia dropped from an estimated 6,250 in the late 1980s to 1,510 in 2000.

Vietnam outlawed the ivory trade in 1992 but shops can still sell ivory dating from before the ban. This allows some to restock illegally with recently-made carved items, the organisation said