L.A. Authorities Make Giant Ivory Seizure

May 3 -- Federal agents in Los Angeles today announced the seizure of 260 pounds of ivory in what they are calling the biggest-ever seizure of African elephant ivory on the West Coast.

The bust could be the nation's biggest ivory seizure since the importation of elephant tusks became illegal in 1989, said Mike Fleming of the U.S. Customs Service Office in Long Beach, Calif.

The 480 pieces of ivory, worth an estimated $375,000, were hidden inside furniture shipped from Nigeria.

A follow-up investigation led to the arrest of two African nationals, authorities said: Ebrima Marigo, 36, a Liberian citizen, and Bahoreh Kabba, 38, a Gambian citizen. Both men live in Los Angeles.

The men are believed to have run an import-export business out of an undisclosed Hollywood location where they distributed African artifacts and handicrafts, according to authorities.

Marigo and Kabba were both charged with smuggling products from an endangered species. The charges could bring up to five years in prison.

Routine Inspection Nets African Valuables

The ivory was first found during a routine inspection of chairs and wooden statues arriving at Los Angeles International Airport on April 9, authorities said.

Customs officials said they had no tips or advanced information, but when they X-rayed four large chairs covered with beaded fabric, they found whole tusks hidden in the chair backs and round cross-sections and carvings concealed in the seats.

Upon examining other items in the shipment, as well as another shipment that arrived two days later, inspectors found 220 pounds of ivory, including 36 whole tusks.

Another 40 pounds of ivory and ivory products were seized at a Hollywood residence.

"This is very rare. Exceptionally rare. We've never seen anything of this magnitude in Los Angeles," said Fleming.

The last comparable seizure was in 1988, Fleming said, when U.S. Fish and Wildlife service official seized a half-ton of ivory in New York.

But that was before an international ban on ivory had taken effect, he said. It was not a smuggling case, but an issue of importers not having the proper permits.