Customs officers guard behind confiscated elephant tusks before a news conference at the customs department in Bangkok, Thailand, April 27, 2015.[Photo/Agencies]

The shipment from Kenya passed through Sri Lanka, Malaysia and Singapore and was destined for Laos, said Somchai Sujjapongse, director-general of customs.

In January, Thailand passed a new law to regulate and control the ivory trade, which requires large items of privately owned ivory to be registered with wildlife and conservation officials.

More than 20,000 African elephants were killed for ivory in 2013, a CITES monitoring programme showed, leaving a population believed to be around 500,000.