Russia seizes three tonnes of ancient mammoth tusks

MOSCOW - Russian customs seized three tonnes of ancient and valuable mammoth tusks that a gang was attempting to smuggle, the Interfax agency quoted officials as saying Thursday.

Two men from St. Petersburg had 64 full tusks of the extinct mammals as well as 14 reconstructed tusks, officials said. Details of their value were not immediately known.

The tusks are typically found intact in northern Siberia, where the permafrost continues to melt due to climate change. In Yakutia, some 15 tonnes of tusks are unearthed every year. Mammoths were a genus of hairy elephant that became extinct 10,000 years ago.