$6.7m Ivory Seized in Uganda

{{About 832 pieces of ivory, with an estimated worth of $6.7m, has been seized by Ugandan officials. }}

Experts say some of the ivory is believed to have come from elephants poached outside Uganda and was apparently heading to Mombasa – Kenya’s port city.

Uganda is believed to have about 5,000 elephants and this haul would represent the tusks from about 400 animals.

After a sharp fall in the number of elephants in Africa, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (Cites) banned the trade in ivory in 1989.

Even with the ban, poaching has increased in recent years across sub-Saharan Africa with criminal gangs slaughtering elephants for ivory markets in Asia.

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