Police at Kamuzu International Airport (KIA) on Tuesday arrested a Chinese national after she was found with ivory in the departures lounge.
The 49-year-old Chinese national Qi Zhang who is a Lilongwe resident wanted to smuggle the ivory to China.
KIA Police spokesperson Sapulain Chitonde Lee Chitonde told Malawi24 that Qi Zhang wanted her bag to be wrapped and police officer manning the place demanded the bag to be physically searched before wrapping it.
“While searching the bag, the police officer discovered 16 small pieces of ivory weighing 0.16 kgs which were concealed in foil papers to defeat the screening process,” Chitonde told Malawi24.
This occurred when the suspect was about to board Ethiopian Airways to China via Addis-Ababa.
Qi Zhang holds passport number G32128866. She comes from Fuji Town in China while here in Malawi she stays in Area 6.
She will answer charges of illegal possession of game trophy and exportation of game trophy which is contrary to Sec.98 as reads with 111 and 113 of parks and Wildlife 2004.
Since 2015, Kamuzu International Airport Police has registered 106 cases of illegal exportation or illegal possession of items such as precious stones, ivory and drugs.
