793 Kilo slagtanden van olifanten in Quezon City (Filippijnen) uit opslag overheid gestolen - Vermoedelijk zijn medewerkers bij diefstal betrokken

INSIDE JOB?

Seized elephant tusks stolen

03-03-2010 By Alcuin Papa, Philippine Daily Inquirer, The Philippines


MANILA, Philippines—About P3-million worth of smuggled elephant tusks stored in a government office is missing.

Environment Secretary Horacio Ramos said the ivory tusks, weighing 793.44 kilos, were part of the 4,456 kilos seized by the Bureau of Customs at the South Harbor in May 2009 and turned over to the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR).

The tusks had been hidden in a shipment of plastic waste loaded in two 20-foot container vans that had come from Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania, where elephants are an endangered species.
The total shipment was estimated to be worth around P21 million.

The tusks were stored at the Ninoy Aquino Parks and Wildlife Nature Center in Quezon City. They were discovered missing last Friday.

“The loss of the elephant tusks is very unfortunate as it sets back our global cooperation against wildlife poaching and the illegal trade in endangered wildlife species,” Ramos said.

Dr. Mundita Lim, director of the DENR’s Protected Areas and Wildlife Bureau (PAWB) which oversees the park, said they were conducting an inventory of the tusks after hearing that some tusks may have been taken from the storage facility.

“There had been news going around that one of our personnel had just bought two cars and now had a beautiful house,” Lim said. “We could not believe it because this employee had been with us for years and was known to be competent and trustworthy.”

Ramos said he had ordered the filing of administrative charges against a PAWB park superintendent in connection with the loss of the tusks.

Lim said only two PAWB staff members had access to the storage area.
“There was no sign of a break-in. The tusks went missing with no sign of forcible entry to the storage,” she said.

She also noted the park superintendent had not reported for work since Saturday.

(Bron: http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/)