BOC teams to help locate missing elephant tusks

MANILA, Philippines - The Bureau of Customs (BOC) is sending several teams to locate the estimated P100 million worth of smuggled elephant tusks, which were discovered missing from a storage facility in Quezon City.

The BOC is the same agency that discovered and seized the smuggled items last year, and subsequently turned them over to the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) for safekeeping.

“Commissioner (Napoleon) Morales talked to me last Friday and instructed me to help the DENR locate the missing elephant tusks which were reportedly stolen,” Customs Police chief superintendent Jose Yuchongco said.

Yuchongco admitted that they were not officially notified and it was only from media that they learned about the alleged pilferage inside the Ninoy Aquino Parks and Wildlife Nature Center (NAPWC) in Quezon City.

“We were shocked to hear the news from the media. Up until now, we have not been formally informed or received a report about the alleged missing items,” he said.

The BOC reportedly sent a letter to Environment Secretary Horacio Ramos yesterday morning to inquire about the status of the ivory tusks that were placed inside two container vans and turned over to DENR.

Ramos, on the other hand, has directed the DENR to step up its investigation on the incident.

“I have instructed all pertinent bodies of the DENR to conduct a thorough investigation on the matter and to give the National Bureau of Investigation our full cooperation,” Ramos said.

He had particularly directed the Protected Areas and Wildlife Bureaus (PAWB) to look into who were involved and how the pilferage was done.

Ramos reported that the preliminary report from PAWB hinted of an inside job, but he refused to give names so as not to pre-empt the investigation.

He also clarified that, contrary to initial reports, the value of the tusks is not P100 million.

“That was the price of the stock that was originally stored at the BOC. It was transferred to the DENR after there were reports of missing tusks from this inventory, and around P21 million worth of tusks were given to the PWAB for safekeeping. Of this, around 18 percent or about P3.8 million have been confirmed as having been stolen,” Ramos said in a statement.

A team of government investigators from Tanzania is also gathering information on the smuggling of elephant tusks from their country to the Philippines, and would be coordinating with the BOC and the DENR.

Yuchongco said the five-man team from Tanzania was scheduled to visit Asian Terminals Inc. (ATI) and BOC Legal Division yesterday. They have a week to complete their mission.

He said he is not sure if the Tanzania investigators were aware that some of the items have been reported missing.

Yuchongco earlier said that the shipments were allegedly consigned to 210 Enterprise, represented by Dalmas Nacala.

He said that a syndicate might be behind the importation of the ivory, which might be used to make religious images.

“In this business, they could make easy money. For example, from just one container, with an estimated value of P50 million, the syndicate could get a clean P20 million in profit. These tusks are easy to dispose of or sell,” Yuchongco said.

Once the tusks arrive in the country, they can be manufactured into religious images, ornaments, and mahjong tiles to be sold locally or exported as finished products to Hong Kong and China.