Hong Kong and Guangdong customs officers have seized 1,209 ivory tusks and 1.4kg of ivory ornaments worth $26.7 million in a joint anti-smuggling operation.

Based on information provided by Guangdong, Hong Kong officers found 972 tusks and the ornaments inside 91 bags of plastic scrap, in a container arriving from Tanzania, declared as containing "plastic scrap", on October 16.

The next day officers found another 237 tusks in 50 bags of roscoco beans in another container from Kenya, declared as containing "roscoco beans".