The Chinese government yesterday announced that customs officers had seized nearly 7.5 tonnes of ivory in one of the largest such discoveries in recent years.

According to China’s customs administration, which is currently conducting a crackdown on wildlife-related crime, the elephant tusks were confiscated as a result of an operation targeting an international organised crime gang that had been involved in the illicit ivory trade for a number of years

Investigators are reported to have arrested 26 suspected members of the smuggling network behind the conspiracy after the ivory was found stored in a number of boxes that were being stored in a discussed factory in a remote town in the eastern province of Anhui last month.

Speaking at a news conference yesterday, officials said the seizure was made up of 2,748 elephant tusks.

The ivory is said to have been trafficked into the country from Africa in containers labelled as carrying wood.

Addressing reporters, Deputy Director General of China Customs Hu Wei said his officers have investigated 182 cases of wildlife trafficking so far this year.

He added that these operations resulted in the disruption of 27 organised criminal networks, the arrest of 171 suspected wildlife traffickers, as well as the seizure of more than 500 tonnes of smuggled illicit wildlife products, including nearly 8.5 tonnes of ivory.

Commending the Chinese government on the seizure, TRAFFIC, and NGO that monitors wildlife crime across the globe, said in a statement: “[We congratulate] Customs on their successful enforcement actions, which send a firm signal that trafficking of endangered species will not be tolerated.

“TRAFFIC also encourages the authorities to ensure full and thorough investigations are carried out and offers its assistance in efforts to clampdown on the persistent trafficking of ivory and other endangered species, and in the longer-term goal of changing consumer behaviour and reducing the demand for illegal wildlife products.”

China, which is the largest importer of elephant tusks on the planet, banned the sale of ivory in 2017.

As in some other Asian countries, ivory remains popular in China, where it is used in traditional medicines and is seen as a status symbol.

Back in February, a Chinese woman nicknamed the “Ivory Queen” was sentenced to 15 years behind bars in Tanzania after she was convicted of smuggling hundreds of elephant tusks to her country of birth.

Yang Fenglan, then aged 69, is said to have been responsible for the trafficking of tusks from as many as 400 elephants worth an estimated $2.5 million, in what was described at the time as one of the largest ivory smuggling operations ever discovered in Africa.

A flight attendant who worked for Malaysia Airlines has been jailed for more than five years after being caught attempting to smuggle packages of heroin into Australia.

In what a judge described as a “clumsily executed” operation, Fariq Aqbal Omar boarded a flight from Kuala Lumpur to Melbourne in May last year while carrying 2.5kgs of high-purity heroin.

The drugs were estimated to have a street value of more than A$3 million ($2.2 million).

After the flight on which he was travelling landed in Melbourne, large bulges visible underneath Omar’s clothing attracted the attention of customs officers.

Observing the 34-year-old Malaysian national using security cameras, border guards watched him visit a bathroom after alighting from his flight.

While using the facilities, he decanted the 10 blocks of pure heroin that had been stuffed inside his trouser pockets and underneath his vest into a suitcase, before exiting the airport terminal and boarding a transfer bus with other cabin crew members.

All of the flight attendants were then asked to return to the terminal building with their luggage to be searched, at which point Omar attempted to remove the drugs from his suitcase and return them to his pockets.

When investigators found the packages, Omar told them he believed they contained illegal tobacco, but later pleaded guilty to importing a commercial quantity of a border-controlled drug, claiming he was paid just A$500 to smuggle the heroin into Australia by a former colleague and another man.

Jailing Omar for five years and six months, Judge Wendy Wilmoth said it was incomprehensible that he had been persuaded to participate in the poorly thought-through smuggling attempt for such a small sum of money.

“Your actions have resulted in a very significant fall for you,” Australian broadcaster ABC News quotes Wilmoth as saying.

“This is something you should have considered before the importation.”

Omar will be eligible for parole after serving three years behind bars.

His lawyer, Thomas Mathew, told the New Straits Times: “Due to his limited involvement in the syndicate and minimum knowledge of its operations, our client’s role was at the very lowest of the range of the offences of this kind.

“Given his impeccable previous character, lack of prior offences in any country and the increased hardship that his imprisonment would involve due to the hardship his family are going through, the defence has sought the lowest sentence possible in the circumstances.”

Police in Ireland are warning students not to allow organised crime networks to use their bank accounts to launder the proceeds of illicit activity.

The Garda National Economic Crime Bureau yesterday launched an awareness campaign designed to educate young people about the potential consequences of permitting their banking facilities to be used in this manner, noting that anybody who is caught acting as a money mule could face money laundering charges that carry a maximum jail term of 14 years.

Over the course of the campaign, which will run until the end of next month, police officers will visit universities across the republic and tell students they should resist the urge to make  a “quick buck” by allowing the proceeds of crime to pass through their bank accounts.

New survey results released to coincide with the launch of the campaign show that 43% of 18 to 24 year olds in Ireland would be willing to act as money mules, and that more than 1,600 money mule cases were reported by major Irish retail banks last year.

According to the poll, 14% of young adults in Ireland said they or someone they know has been approached by a person wanting to use their bank accounts to process suspected illicit transactions.

Organised criminal gangs looking to launder dirty cash typically approach low-income groups such as the unemployed or students to act as money mules, asking them to allow the proceeds of crime to be paid in and out of their bank accounts for a percentage fee of the funds involved.

The Garda National Economic Crime Bureau has said it is currently investigating a €2 million ($225.4 million) money laundering scam that is thought to involve the use of some 200 money mule accounts.

Announcing the launch of the awareness-raising campaign, Detective Inspector Gunne said: “If you agree to allow your account be used in this way you are committing the offence of money laundering.

“Money laundering is a serious offence which on conviction carries a penalty of up to 14 years imprisonment.

“This will have a serious impact on your future travel plans, career opportunities, vetting and credit ratings.”

In October last year, UK fraud prevention service Cifas revealed that it has recorded a 26% increase in the number of young people aged under 21 acting as money mules.

The organisation called on the UK banking industry to provide young people with more information on the potential consequences of allowing their accounts to be used for the laundering of criminal money.