NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — Interpol says African wildlife authorities have seized nearly 3,800 pounds (1,700 kilograms) of illegal elephant ivory in a six-nation operation.
Interpol's east Africa chief Awad Dahia says leopard, crocodile and snake skins were also seized in the three-month long operation. Dahia says the operation involved wildlife authorities, police and customs departments of Burundi, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda.
The Kenya Wildlife Service says it has arrested 65 people during the operation.
The elephant populations of many African countries were being decimated until a global ban on the ivory trade was implemented in 1989. Since then the elephant population of Kenya, for example, has grown to 35,000 this year from 16,000 in 1989.
