Word: illicitness
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...industrialized nations have declared a moratorium on ivory imports. Among them: the U.S., France, West Germany, England, Canada and Australia. Japan and Hong Kong, the centers of the trade, followed suit. In Africa nations have declared war on the poachers. Thousands have been arrested, scores killed and tons of illicit tusks seized. Most significant of all, consumers are beginning to understand the link between their ivory baubles and trinkets and the mutilated carcasses from which they came. If regulation fails, consumer revulsion to ivory may be the elephant's last hope...
...tusks go to collection points, and from there are carried across the continent, hidden in gas tankers and cargo trucks, personal luggage and shipping crates. The rewards far outweigh the risks. The owner of a truck carrying $2 million worth of illicit tusks and rhino horns was fined a mere $2,613 by Botswa officials last year. His cargo was said to be bound for a South African firm with Hong Kong connections. Despite crackdowns, the poachers are undaunted. Just two weeks ago, in a predawn raid on a farm, Namibian officials seized 980 tusks...
Tanzania is now getting tough. Since June 1, units of the police, army and wildlife department under Operation Uhai -- Swahili for life -- have arrested 1,840 people and seized more than 1,000 illicit tusks. Some frightened poachers dump their tusks into the Ruaha River rather than risk getting caught. But it is late for Tanzania's elephants. Between 1979 and 1987 their & population plummeted from about...
...Singapore and Burundi, which together had more than 390 tons of ivory. Traders' ivory, once suspect because it lacked documentation, suddenly quadrupled in value. In countries intent on barring illegal ivory, customs agents have found thousands of tusks in crates marked BEESWAX, BONE MATERIAL, MARBLE and JEWELRY. But most illicit ivory slips through...
Nine states have such programs, and 30 more are considering them. They have also become a key idea in drug czar William Bennett's war on illicit substances. Usually the programs fence off parts of state prisons into "boot camps," where 17-to-25-year-old first offenders convicted of drug or property crimes are held for three to six months. Between head shaving, close-order drills and servile work, the youthful felons are screamed and hollered at by correctional officers skilled in the art of humiliation. They are compelled to rise at dawn, eat meals in silence, speak only...