Singapore authorities have seized about 3.7 tonnes of illegal ivory shipment with an estimated value of $8 million, making it the second largest seizure in the country since 2002.

The shipment of illegal ivory and game parts is said to have been declared as tea leaves and was shipped from Kenya.

According to several Singapore media outlets, the shipment consisted of 1,783 pieces of raw ivory tusks, rhinoceros horns and 22 canine teeth of African big cats.

In a joint report, Singapore’s Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority (AVA) and Singapore Customs said that the shipment was transiting through Singapore for Vietnam.

Ms Lye Fong Keng, Deputy Director of AVA's Quarantine and Inspection Group, Wildlife Section said that the Singapore Government has zero tolerance on the use of Singapore as a conduit to smuggle endangered species and their parts and products.

“We will continue to cooperate and collaborate with partner enforcement agencies nationally and internationally to curb wildlife trafficking because it requires concerted efforts by the international community,” Ms Keng said.

The seizure comes days after the Kenyan government formed an inter-agency team to investigate whether part of the ivory seized in Thailand was evidence stolen from Kenyan courts and reshipped to Bangkok.

READ: Mombasa container with 3,000kg of ivory seized in Thailand

In April, Thailand’s Customs Department seized 511 elephant tusks that had been declared at the customs office as 11 tonnes of tea leaves from Kenya destined for Laos.

Thailand’s Minister of Natural Resources and Environment Dapong Rattanasuwan and Director-General of Customs Somchai Sujjapongse said that they had reshipped seized ivory to Kenya to be used as evidence against ivory traffickers, only for the same consignment to find its way back to the Asian country.