'Tonne of ivory' smuggled to US

26 July 2011 Last updated at 21:39 GMT An art dealer has been arrested and accused of smuggling a tonne of African ivory into the US for sale at his Philadelphia store.

Victor Gordon, 68, paid a conspirator to fly to Africa, purchase raw ivory and have it carved to his specifications, prosecutors said.

The conspirator dyed the carvings in order to make them appear old before smuggling them into the US, they said.

Traffic in ivory is tightly restricted under US and international law.

"It's safe to say dozens of elephants sit before you," Edward Grace, deputy chief of law enforcement for the US Fish and Wildlife Service, told reporters in Philadelphia.

There, officials displayed for reporters intricately carved whole tusks and smaller sculptures and figurines that agents had seized from Mr Gordon's shop and from his customers.

Elephants are protected under the 1975 Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES). Ivory more than 100 years old can be sold can be legally imported into the US.

The government hopes to seize all the allegedly smuggled ivory

"The amount of the elephant ivory allegedly plundered in this case is staggering and highlights the seriousness of the charged crimes," United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York Loretta Lynch said.

"We all have a responsibility to protect endangered species, both for their sake and for the sake of our own future generations."

Ms Lynch's office described the seizure of the ivory in the case as one of the largest in US history.

According to an indictment filed in federal court in New York, Mr Gordon paid an unidentified co-conspirator $32,000 (?19,500) to undertake several trips to purchase "raw" ivory in central and west Africa between May 2006 and April 2009.

The co-conspirator had the ivory carved and stained to disguise its newness, then smuggled it into the US through JFK International Airport in New York.

It was then delivered to Mr Gordon's retail store in Philadelphia, according to the indictment.

In April 2009, federal fish and wildlife officers seized hundreds of ivory tusks and carvings from Mr Gordon's shop in Philadelphia.

As the investigation progressed over the next year-and-a-half, agents seized more pieces from his customers in the states of New York, Kansas, California and Missouri.

Mr Gordon was arrested on Tuesday and charged with 10 counts of violating US anti-ivory smuggling laws, including statutes aimed at protecting endangered species and enforcing the CITES.

If convicted, he faces up to 20 years in prison.

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Kenya burns ivory to end poaching

20 July 2011 Last updated at 16:38 GMT This is the third time that confiscated ivory has been burnt in Africa Kenya's President Mwai Kibaki has set on fire nearly five tonnes of ivory worth $16m (?9.9m) to curb poaching.

Mr Kibaki said the burning - only the third of its kind in Africa - showed the continent's determination to fight "criminal networks".

The ivory was seized in Singapore and sent to Kenya where DNA tests showed it came from Malawi and Tanzania.

The countries agreed earlier this year to jointly stop the trade, which conservationists say is increasing.

At a ceremony in the Munyani region of eastern Kenya, Mr Kibaki used a long stick with a ball of fuel-doused cloth at the end to light the tall pyre of tusks.

'Clear message'

Some 335 tusks and more than 40,000 ivory carvings went up in smoke.

"We cannot afford to sit back and allow criminal networks to destroy our common future," Mr Kibaki said.

"Through the burning of contraband ivory, therefore, we are sending a clear message to poachers and illegal traders in wildlife about our collective resolve to fight this crime in our region and beyond."

The contraband burnt in Munyani represents 10% of Kenya's ivory stockpile

The BBC's Wazir Khamsin in Munyani says the ivory that went up in flames on Wednesday represents only 10% of Kenya's stockpile.

The destruction of the ivory stockpile followed an agreement in May by Malawi, Tanzania and Kenya to strengthen law enforcement efforts to end wildlife smuggling.

The burning was the first involving the three countries, after Singapore agreed to return the stockpile nearly 10 years after it was seized.

In 1989, Kenya burnt its own stockpile of seized ivory, while Zambia torched tusks three years later.

Africa has nearly 500,000 elephants, but the World Wildlife Federation (WWF) says they are increasingly threatened.

"We share the view of most experts that illegal or poorly regulated domestic ivory markets in some countries - Thailand, Nigeria and the Democratic Republic of Congo, in particular - are the main drivers of this increased elephant poaching," the WWF says.

Commercial trade in ivory has been banned since 1989 under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (Cites).

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