MOSCOW, November 12 (RIA Novosti) - United Arab Emirates customs officers have seized an illegal cargo of ivory worth about $4.1 million at the Jebel Ali Port, Gulf News reported.

A total of 215 pieces of fine ivory were hidden in 40 boxes containing green beans.

Customs officers scanned the boxes and then search them manually to find tusks of 108 elephants, presumably killed by poachers. The cargo came from an unnamed African country.

African elephants, ranked as “vulnerable” on the IUCN red list, are often poached for ivory, used in traditional medicine and to make luxury objects. The population of the animals fell from millions to a few hundred thousand in the past decades, due to rampant poaching. In Kenya alone about 200 elephants are killed annually.