PETALING JAYA: A Malaysian engineer in Britain has pleaded guilty to 18 counts of illegal animal trade linked to packages of ivory products bound for China.

       Ngie Law, 44, was also handed a two-year jail sentence, suspended for two years, by the Derby Crown Court after he admitted to having illegally bought and sold large quantities of ivory.

       Law's conviction was highlighted by the illegal wildlife trade monitoring group, Traffic.

       According to the Derby Telegraph, Law made a total of GBP65,000 (almost RM375,000) in transactions over five years, including trading in unworked tusks cut off from the endangered animals.

       "This was a hobby that turned into a crime," Judge Shaun Smith was quoted as saying by the newspaper.

       Law had largely carried out his illegal business via eBay.

       However, the trade was uncovered when some of the packages, which were being sent to China, were intercepted by Britain's Border Force a few years ago.

       Local authorities believed that the seizure might be the largest haul of ivory products in Britain.

       Carbon dating of some of the items found in his apartment at the Derby Conference Centre showed that the products were taken from animals killed by poachers between the 1970s and 1990s.

       International trade in elephant ivory has been banned since 1975 for Asian elephants, and since 1989 for African elephants.

       The species have been placed on Appendix I of the Convention for International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), which forbids all international trade in the animals and derived products.

       However, in Britain, while it is illegal to buy and sell Asian elephant ivory dating after 1975 or African elephant ivory after 1990, there are exemptions for products before 1947.

       Law went to Britain to study in 2000.