Daily Times

THE HAGUE: The Dutch police uncovered a record haul of skins and bones from endangered wildlife as well as two tonnes of hundreds of years old coral.

The illegal stash – ranging from ivory jewellery to the skulls of turtles, monkeys and crocodiles as well as the skins of lizards and snakes – was found during a three-day search of warehouses in the southern province of Brabant, Rotterdam police said.

The haul came to light during a routine search of a container ship that arrived from China in Rotterdam’s port, the police said in a statement on Monday. Some 345 kilos of coral were found in 15 packing cases on the container ship and the trail then led police to an office and five warehouses.

“Investigators took three days to search the properties and had to return with a forklift and truck to take away boxes full of coral and vulnerable species,” the police statement said.

A safe with 500,000 euros ($558,000) in cash and gold was also confiscated and the 53-year-old owner of the company is being questioned. Coral along with animals such as sea turtles are protected by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES).

“Coral reefs are the rainforests of the oceans and are seriously threatened,” said Rotterdam Police Environmental Department’s Peter Hartog.

Investigators had found a complete coral reef in the search, including blue coral measuring some 40 centimetres (15 inches). “Coral grows at between 1 and 25 millimetres per year, while a fan coral takes longer. What we found here are pieces of coral which must be hundreds of years old,” he said.