It has just been released by Thai authorities that customs officers at Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi Airport seized almost 1.4 tonnes of elephant ivory tusks, officials in Thailand announced yesterday. Acting on a tip-off, Customs officers discovered 296 African Elephant tusks weighing a combined total of 1,390 kg inside three crates on board flight from Qatar. The cargo was labeled as “printing metal” and addressed to a Thai company based in Bangkok.

This is the latest in a series of large scale ivory seizures involving Thailand and ivory illegally transported from Africa via the Middle East: in February, Customs officials at Suvarnabhumi seized 239 African Elephant tusks weighing an estimated two tonnes, reported to be the country’s biggest ever ivory seizure. The ivory was said to have arrived on an Emirates flight from Dubai where it arrived from Nairobi, and was apparently destined for Lao PDR. Earlier, in August 2009, officials at the airport were reported to have seized 316 pieces of ivory weighing 2 tonnes in a shipment from Uganda and Kenya.

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