Alex Trelinski
A VALENCIA antiques shop has been raided for selling goods illegally made out of elephant ivory.
127 items were removed by the Guardia Civil, who described the seizure as one of Spain’s ‘biggest-ever’.
The ivory came from protected African and Asian elephants.
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The Guardia’s environment unit Seprona said the ‘damage to fauna’ was €14 million while the commercial value of the items was €226,630.
Colonel Juan Martinez Ros said on Monday: “Our operation began last October when there we detected a significant increase in ivory pieces for sale in the Valencian Community.”
“Surveillance was carried out on people who went to antique stores and had travelled from all parts of Spain to avoid regular sales methods that were under control,” he added.
Officers turned their focus to a Valencia antiques dealer where 127 ivory pieces of different sizes were on display- carved in a minimalist style, mainly with Asian aesthetics.
All of the goods were impounded as the dealer had no supporting documentation to support their legality.
A woman has been arrested and four other people have been investigated for smuggling and crimes against flora and fauna.
The items were all put on display at a news conference in Valencia.
The biggest was a carved ivory horn- 1.77 metres long – dating bank to the nineteenth century and weighing 22 kilos.
The remaining carvings ranged between 40 and 90 cms in length.
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