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A man from the west African country of Guinea who was wanted over the smuggling of more than 300kg of elephant tusks into Thailand last year was arrested in Chanthaburi province on Friday.
The 45-year-old, named as Mory Sacko, was apprehended at a hotel room in the eastern province by police from the Natural Resources and Environmental Crime Suppression Division.
The suspect was wanted on an arrest warrant issued by Samut Prakan court on charges of colluding in the smuggling of prohibited items, wildlife products or carcasses into the country.
The arrest followed the seizure of 87 ivory tusk at Suvarnabhumi airport on April 5 last year. The tusks were found in a dozen barrels were consigned from Mozambique and flown from Nairobi, Kenya, to Suvarnabhumi on a Kenya Airways flight. The cargo had been declared as “rough stones”. A routine x-ray at the international airport detected the contraband.
Investigators determined that the tusks were brought into the country by the Guinean suspect. They obtained an court arrest warrant and finally tracked him down in Chanthaburi.
The investigation into the ivory smuggling network is continuing.