Officials: Couple busted with banned ivory at Sea-Tac airport

SEATTLE – Authorities said a couple was caught at the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport with more than three dozen pieces of ivory in their luggage when they returned from the Philippines.

U.S. Customs and Border Patrol officials said the items were flagged during a security X-ray of their incoming baggage earlier this month.

Officials said agents opened the bag and found more than 30 pieces of carved elephant ivory, two carved hippopotamus tusks and two carved warthog tusks.

Officials said the items were seized by U.S. Fish and Wildlife officials.

The couple was fined $500 for violating the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, which seeks to protect about 3,000 threatened species and plants.