Xinjiang Customs Seize Smuggled Antelope HornCustoms officers in Urumqi, capital of northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, has uncovered a series of smuggling cases and seized abundant amounts of the horn of sahlite, an endangered vertebrate species of antelope.Sahlite, living in desert areas in middle Asia and northern part of Xinjiang, is under first-class state protection in China. With its high medicinal use, the sahlite horn is very popular in markets in southeast Asian countries. In recent years, smugglers started to traffic the horn from Kazakstan to China through the Horgos Port in Xinjiang. In October, the customs officers at the Horgos port discovered 156 kilograms of sahlite horn in an oil box of a truck belonging to a local border trade company. Through further investigation, the officers broke up a smuggling gang, and detained three suspects. At the same time, the police seized 140 kilograms of sahlite horn and 17 specially made oil boxes used for the smuggling. To date, police and customs officers have seized a total of 681kilograms of sahlite horn from trucks and trains going through the port. Smuggled Antelope Horns Seized in XinjiangHelgus Customs in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region in northwest China recently seized 1,800 smuggled antelope horns weighing 286 kilograms.On August 17, Helgus customs officers confiscated 600 smuggled antelope horns in a bus which weighed more than 100 kilograms. On August 21, another batch of 1,200 antelope horns were seized by customs officers in another bus. |
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