Dept keen to know origin of tusks found on Indonesian

KOTA KINABALU: Sabah Wildlife Department is keen to know the origin of the five elephant tusks recovered from an Indonesian woman believed to be heading from Tawau to Nunukan, Indonesia.

Although it could not be certain whether the elephant tusks were from recently killed jumbos in Sabah, wildlife authorities here are hoping to help Indonesia to verify their origin through DNA tests.

The tusks were found hidden in the woman’s bag on Jan 13. They were spotted through an x-ray machine.

Indonesian Customs, Immigra­tion and Quarantine officials let her off after she told them that the tusks did not belong to her and that she was just asked to carry them as marriage dowry.

No details were available about who gave them to her.

Indonesian workers usually go home via Tawau to Nunukan.

“We have contacted Indonesia’s CITES Management Authority about the matter through the assistance of Traffic South-East Asia,” Sabah Wildlife Department director Augustine Tuuga said.

“We will wait for the outcome of their investigation,” he added.

Conservationists here suspected the tusks could be from three endangered Pygmy elephants which died between October and December last year.

They could also be from the rare sabre-tusked elephant of which the skeletal remains were found on Dec 31, in the Segama area of Kinaba­tangan district.