Philippine customs officials said Wednesday they foiled an ivory-smuggling effort from Tanzania, seizing elephant tusks worth about $2 million.

Officials were suspicious of two steel containers shipped from Dar Es Salaam that were declared as containing plastic waste for recycling when they arrived separately in early March, said Nestorio Gualberto, head of the Bureau of Customs security service. He said such cargo normally comes from neighbouring China or Japan.

"We first thought it was drugs... if not drugs, ivory. So our second suspicion was right," he said.

The tusks _ packed in boxes and hidden under sacks filled with plastic sheets and scraps _ came from adult and juvenile elephants, he said.

Gualberto said a Philippine brokerage company and the consignee face charges of violating a Philippine wildlife conservation and protection law as well as an international trade ban on ivory. The charges carry a penalty of up to six years imprisonment and a fine of 1 million pesos ($20,000), he said.

The size of the Philippine ivory market is unknown, but items such as piano keys, figurines, religious images and other items made of the material are relatively common.

Trade in ivory was banned under a 1989 UN Convention on International Trade of Endangered Species that has helped in the recovery of the elephant population in several African countries.

The tusks will be held in custody by the environment department until the court cases are concluded, he said.

http://asia.news.yahoo.com/ap/20090520/tap-as-philippines-smuggled-ivory-fe2a5de.html