File photo / Authorities attribute the disappearance to a succession of robberies since 2016

A total of 763 kg of ivory obtained from poaching and held by Mozambican authorities has disappeared from northern Mozambique, the National Administration of Conservation Areas (ANAC) announced yesterday.

The ivory comprised 85 pairs tusks held by the Niassa Provincial Forest and Wildlife Services, the Mozambican Information Agency (AIM) reports.

The authorities attribute the disappearance to a succession of unsolved robberies that have occurred since April 2016. Thieves hacked through the ceiling of the storage room in the “latest foray”, AIM adds.

A team comprising members of the Criminal Investigation Services (SERNIC) and ANAC technicians was created to investigate the case.

Elephant and rhinoceros horn, lion and leopard teeth, pelts and claws are among the trophies sought by the international traffic in animal parts in Mozambique.

Elephants have been worst affected. AIM says that, in the last five years, the population in the country’s conservation areas has shrunk from about 20,000 to half that number.