Philippine customs officials have seized 2 million US dollars worth of elephant tusks that were smuggled from Tanzania in two different shipments.

Environment Secretary Lito Atienza, center, Customs Commissioner Napoleon Morales, right, and Customs Enforcement and Security Service Chief Superintendent Jose Yuchongco show media confiscated elephant tusks Wednesday, May 20, 2009 at a customs warehouse in Manila, Philippines. The prohibited shipment of elephant tusks were found inside two container vans estimated worth at U.S. $2 million and found hidden between sacks of plastic scraps. [Pat Roque/CCTV/AP Photo]

Two container vans were seized after they arrived in Manila earlier this year under the guise of plastic waste materials. The tusks from adult and baby elephants were broken into pieces, with some weighing as much as 25 kilograms. Customs officials are still searching for three other 20-foot container vans suspected of carrying more elephant tusks.

Local officials say the tusks could be displayed in a museum. African and Asian elephants are protected under the Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species, which the Philippines signed in 1981.

(CCTV May 21, 2009)