New Zealand conservation officials help bust U.S. ivory trafficker

Conservation officials Thursday welcomed the jailing of a U.S. man convicted of illegally trafficking elephant ivory to New Zealand.

Shahram Roohparvar, 61, pleaded guilty in California to falsifying documents to illegally sell and ship elephant ivory to New Zealand man Patrick Cooper.

Roohparvar was sentenced to three months in prison.

Cooper, a natural therapist and carver, admitted five charges, laid by New Zealand's Department of Conservation (DOC), of importing African elephant ivory without a permit.

Cooper was fined 8,000 NZ dollars (5,812 U.S. dollars) in the Napier District Court, on the east of the North Island, in December last year.

Cooper came to the attention of authorities in 2012, when a carved elephant tusk addressed to him was seized at the International Mail Centre in Auckland, said a DOC statement.

DOC and Ministry of Primary Industries staff executed a search warrant at his Napier home and seized further illegally imported pieces of ivory.

The seized ivory was sent to Cooper by Roohparvar, who lives in Saratoga in California.

Roohparvar admitted owning and operating a website through which he sold ivory and other items of protected wildlife, including red coral and leopard skin, to buyers overseas.

DOC senior investigator Dylan Swain, who was involved in prosecuting Cooper, welcomed the sentence imposed on Roohparvar.

"The successful prosecutions of Cooper in New Zealand and Roohparvar in the United States are the result of agencies in both countries working together to police the illegal trade in endangered species," Swain said in the statement.

"New Zealand has a responsibility to help protect threatened wildlife in other countries because we rely on international support to protect our endangered species from being exploited."

Cooper is the second person to be convicted for illegally importing ivory into New Zealand, following a conviction in Auckland in 2013. Endit