Can you blame them?

I recently came across this excellent description of goods on a shipping invoice: -

‘Ivory 2 meters’

That’s it, that’s all it said – no tariff code, no anything.  

How could anyone be surprised that Customs were interested to find out if they were shipping elephant ivory in contravention of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species  (CITES).    Needless to say the goods stuck in customs and the only one surprised was the shipper.

What was actually being shipped?    2 meters of Ivory coloured cotton fabric.

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