China seizes smuggled animal products worth $15.8m

HARBIN - Chinese customs have intercepted a large quantity of illegal animal products worth up to 106 million yuan ($15.8 million), the customs office in Harbin, capital of Northeast China's Heilongjiang province, said Wednesday.

The smuggled animal products include two elephant tusks, 1,276 antelope horns, 156 mammoth tusks, 406 walrus tusks, 226 narwhal tusks as well as bear gall bladders and teeth, and 320 kg of sea cucumbers. The products were hidden in a Russian truck claiming to be carrying soybeans.

A total of eight Chinese and Russian suspects have been arrested, and further investigation is ongoing.

China has vowed to crack down on wildlife trafficking in recent years. The latest big move was to ban the domestic ivory trade at the end of 2017.