Chinese found with ivory at Kenya airport

July 16 2008 at 02:59PM www.iol.co.za

Nairobi, Kenya - Kenya's wildlife service says two Chinese women are being questioned at Nairobi's international airport after being found with 36 pieces of ivory.

The women were stopped at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport on Wednesday morning, said Kentice Tikomo, a spokesperson for the Kenyan Wildlife Service. They were booked on a flight to China, she said.

Kenya's elephant population has grown from around 16 000 to 27 000 since the UN Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species banned the ivory trade in 1989.

But that is far fewer than the estimated 167 000 elephants that lived in Kenya in 1973, before poaching devastated the country's herds. - Sapa-AP