Customs and police show off 3 tons of ivory confiscated from smugglers (Video)

Authorities have finally decided to show off some of the smuggled ivory that was seized last August:

OSAKA — Local customs and police officials showed the press on Thursday three tons of ivory they had confiscated from smugglers.

Osaka Customs and Osaka Prefectural Police released some 608 pieces of ivory measuring 30 to 40 centimeters in length and 17,928 smaller pieces that the smugglers had intended to sell for use as seals. The ivory pieces weigh a total of three tons and are worth about 1 billion yen. The ivory is believed to have been taken from about 130 African elephants, customs officials said.

It was the largest amount of ivory to be confiscated from smugglers in a single incident in Japan.

According to the article, ivory is traded on the black market for more than 100,000 yen (837 US dollars) per kilogram, so I’m guessing that the really cheap name stamp I use is probably not made of ivory. Anyway, here’s a video of the haul:

So many elephants killed for the sake of name seals. Pretty sad.