Malaysian authorities incinerated almost four tonnes of elephant tusks and ivory products worth about $3.2 million, as they crack down on rampant wildlife-smuggling across the country’s borders.
The small Southeast Asian nation has become a transit point in the illicit trade in ivory, which typically arrives from Africa and is sent on to major Asian markets such as China and Vietnam.
The global trade in elephant ivory, with rare exceptions, has been outlawed since 1989 after populations of the African giants dropped from millions in the mid-20th century to around 600,000 by the end of the 1980s.
