Home Office
Seized products include illegal ivory, birds of prey, trophy animals and Chinese medicines containing ingredients such as rhino horn.
There has also been an increase in the number of body beautiful products, such as slimming supplements and face creams, containing caviar being smuggled across the UK border.
During 2012/13 there were 690 seizures resulting in a haul of 2.5 million illegal items. Last year there were 501 seizures and 248,770 illegal items.
Immigration Minister Mark Harper said:
Organised criminal gangs will smuggle anything if they think there is a profit to be made and animal products can be worth millions of pounds on the black market.
The fact that this trade is contributing to the threat of extinction faced by many endangered species is of no interest to these ruthless traffickers.
Border Forces specialist officers are world renowned for their excellence in identifying and preventing the trade of illegal animal and plant material.
Officers are working tirelessly with partners in the National Crime Agency, the police and internationally to stamp out this illicit trade.
Successful Border Force seizures during 2012/13 include:
- 3,890 kilos of medicinal products seized containing extracts from endangered species
- 326 items of ivory since April 2013 alone theres been 21 seizures of ivory
- 466 Hermanns tortoises discovered at Heathrow Airport
- 1.6 tonnes of tortoise jelly seized at Thames Port container in Kent
- 750 kilos of endangered corals and 60 clams were discovered in boxes originating from Vietnam
- 500 kg of face cream containing caviar extract sent from China discovered at Heathrow and Felixstowe
- 2.3 tonnes of Sandalwood from India declared as handicrafts was found in UK bound for Hong Kong
- 126,000 pots of Detonate and 15,120 pots of CRAZE - both nutritional supplements containing orchids were seized at Manchester Airport in a shipment from America