A man who advertised elephant tusks, rhinoceros horns and hippopotamus teeth on Instagram for £60,000 per kilo has been jailed.
Illegal trader Abbas Alawi, 52, was tried at Harrow Crown Court after the post, marked "cash only" was discovered.
If he had managed to sell the illegal animal products at the asking price, he would have netted £2million in cash.
Highly trained sniffer dogs uncovered the horns, tusks and teeth in the loft of his Watford home and he was convicted of six wildlife offences on November 9.
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He was sentenced to a total of nearly five years in prison, but his sentences are to run concurrently so he will actually only serve 14 months.
London Crown Prosecution Service lawyer Peter Nugent said: “Abbas Allawi stood to make significant sums trading in ivory and tusks despite knowing it was illegal.
“He tried to claim ignorance of the law but the prosecution case was able to show through his messages to potential buyers that he knew full well he was trading in what he described as “banned things”.
“If you break laws controlling the sale of items linked to endangered species the CPS will work with the police to present a strong case in court, to make sure offenders face the consequences of their crimes.”
A charge of possessing criminal property knowing or suspecting it to constitute a person’s benefit from criminal conduct was left to lie on file.
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