Wildlife officials collected samples from the elephant tusks seized from construction tycoon Premchai Karnasuta's Bangkok house on Thursday and said they should know in three weeks if they were illegally acquired from Africa.
Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation (DNP) officers took the samples from two large pairs of tusks now being held at the Natural Resources and Environmental Crime Division in Bangkok.
The ivory was impounded from the house of Mr Premchai, president of Italian-Thai Development Plc, in Huai Khwang district on Feb 7.
He faces multiple charges relating to hunting of protected wildlife and firearms possession in the Western Thungyai Naresuan Wildlife Sanctuary in Kanchanaburi province where he was arrested on the night of Feb 4.
The carcasses of 10 protected animals were found near his illegal camping ground, including that of a skinned, endangered black leopard. There were multiple bullet holes in the skin.
DNP deputy director-general Pinsak Suraswadi said on Thursday the place of origin of the elephant tusks could be guessed with the naked eye. Tusks that big normally belonged to African elephants.
Mr Pinsak said an examination of the DNA of the samples would confirm where the ivory came from. The results should be known in three weeks.
The possession of an African elephant tusk is illegal because it violates the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (Cites) and means it would have been smuggled. The offence carries a maximum jail term of four years and/or a fine of 40,000 baht.
If the tusks proved to be from Asian elephants, officials would check if their possession was legal, he said.
Mr Premchai had earlier applied for permission to keep elephant tusks in his possession, but a permit had not been issued. Wildlife officials estimated the value of both pairs of tusks from Mr Premchai's house at more than 2 million baht.
