The Nigerian government has taken a giant step towards enforcing the global ban on illegal ivory trade by confiscating dozens of elephant tusks illegally imported into the country.

The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) on Wednesday during a press briefing in Yola confirmed the seizure of about 55 high caliber elephant tusks along the Nigerian-Cameroon border.

The Area Controller in charge of Adamawa and Taraba Commands, Francis Adetoye said the unprecedented success was recorded following a joint anti-smuggling and drugs patrol operation in collaboration with sister agencies in the state.

Adetoye said: “On November 20, the command’s anti-smuggling team successfully seized 55 huge size of elephant tusks being smuggled into Nigeria from a neighbouring country.”

Adetoye, who did not disclose the origin nor the final destination of the ivory however disclosed that the command had recorded 43 other seizures including foreign rice, fairly used vehicles and clothes from January to November 2017 with the total Duty Paid Value of ₦119.7 million.

Just last week at the 69th meeting of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) in Geneva, Switzerland, ivory trade was a major topic where European and African conservation experts called on governments worldwide to support African nations to put an end to the trade in elephant ivory.

Every year, hundreds of African elephants and rhinoceros are poached and killed for their tusks which are sold in the illegal multi – million dollar trade, with most shipped to Asian and West African countries.