20101211
africanews

Kenyan police have arrested two Singaporeans in possession of 92 kilograms of smuggled ivory at Nairobi Airport just before boarding for Thailand, the department in charge of the Kenyan Wildlife Service (KWS) said.

"The cargo, packed in four suitcases, flights to Bangkok, about to be shipped in a Kenya Airways flight when she was discovered by agents of a canine unit of the KWS accompanied by sniffer dogs," said KWS in a statement.

Kenya, which has successfully rebuilt its elephant populations in recent years has become a major source for ivory smuggling and saw these last months of its elephant poaching increased. The smuggled ivory transit through Thailand, the hub, before being sent to China.

According to a U.S. diplomatic note issued by Wikileaks, the KWS was a "significant increase in poaching in the area of Chinese shipyards" in Kenya, where Chinese companies are in charge of many projects of infrastructures.

Poaching of elephants for their tusks is constantly increasing, with 47 elephants killed in 2007, 94 in 2008 and 204 in 2009, according to the Kenya Wildlife Service