The shipment, consisting of 1,148 tusks weighing in at 2,183 kilograms, about 4,800 pounds, was worth an estimated $2.25 million, according to a customs department statement.
In 2006, for example, the U.S. embassy in Caracas claimed the Venezuelan National Guard had seized and opened "part of an inbound U.S. Military Group shipment" consisting of "household effects and commissary rations".
According to court documents, among the arguments supporting the export was a claim that part of the shipment consisted of "less lethal" F303 riot guns, and that the weapons (including assault rifles, submachine guns, machine guns, grenades, ammunition rounds and various accessories like grenade launchers and noise suppressors) were destined to "defend a humanitarian convoy to Darfur".
An American official, who asked not to be identified because he was discussing intelligence reports, said the targeted shipment consisted of Iranian-made Fateh-110s — a mobile, accurate, solid-fueled missile that has the range to strike Tel Aviv and much of Israel from southern Lebanon, and that represents a considerable improvement over the liquid-fueled Scud missile.
A source close to the mission told the BBC that this first shipment consisted of 16 tonnes.
Since Prime Minister Toshiki Kaifu announced the previous pledge of $1 billion, only one shipment of goods, consisting of 800 vehicles, has gone to the Middle East.
To finance the trip, the UDA, UVF and Ulster Resistance carried out a bank robbery at the Northern Bank in Portadown; this netted £325,000, which was then used to purchase a shipment of arms consisting of 200 AK47 rifles, 90 Browning pistols, 500 fragmentation grenades, ammunition and 12 RPG launchers.
In April 1915, unaware of the failure of the Annie Larsen plan, Papen arranged, through Krupp's American representative Hans Tauscher, a second shipment of arms, consisting of 7,300 Springfield rifles, 1,930 pistols, 10 Gatling guns and nearly 3,000,000 cartridges.
A sea shipment may consist of several containers, each of them holding a sealed package.
The first shipment of relief supplies, consisting of food rations, rice, sardines, and used clothing, was to be shipped from Cebu later that day.
A 2013 shipment of a conceptual Santiago Sierra sculpture consisting of 40 cubic metres of Spanish soil to the Berlin gallery KOW required multiple trucks and lots of manpower.
