Rare animal parts seized

Animal skulls, shark jaws and jewellery made from animal vertebrae have been seized by Gatwick Customs.

Among the items found by officers searching the luggage of a passenger arriving from Gambia were skulls of baboons, gibbons and green turtles.

Most of the goods seized are banned from being traded internationally under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species.

Officers also searched a property owned by the passenger in Cornwall and took away more rare articles, including leopard and tiger-skin rugs, whale teeth and tortoises.

The haul could be worth tens of thousands of pounds on the black market. A Customs spokeswoman said: "Some estimates put the value of this trade almost as high as that of the illegal drugs trade."

A man has been bailed to appear at Snow Hill police station, in the City, in six weeks.