( CNN ) -- Two suspects were arrested over the weekend after authorities found two tons of raw elephant ivory and five rhinoceros horns at Nairobi 's Jomo Kenyatta International Airport , the Kenya Wildlife Service said Monday . The cargo had been disguised as avocados , according to the service , which says its mission is `` to sustainably conserve and manage Kenya 's wildlife and its habitats in collaboration with other stakeholders for posterity . '' `` Most of the tusks seem to have been collected from natural deaths of about 150 elephants over the last 20 years with the latest likely to be 6 months old , '' it said in a news release . `` None of the tusks had the indelible ink used for marking government-held stocks . DNA tests will be conducted to determine the tusks ' actual origin . '' The seizure and arrests resulted from a joint operation that included the Kenya Wildlife Service , Kenya Revenue Authority , Lusaka Agreement Task Force and the Kenya Police , the wildlife service said . On Saturday night , the airport 's warehouse security contacted a canine unit after becoming suspicious about a cargo destined for Malaysia through Dubai by Emirates Airline , it said . `` The cargo , which was falsely declared as containing only fresh avocado fruits , was packed in 12 wooden boxes , which raised a red flag due to its mode of package , weight and destination , '' it said . Inside the boxes , officials found the contraband packed among avocados and wrapped in black paper and banana leaves -- packaging used in an attempt to evade detection , the wildlife service said . Last year , 204 elephants were illegally killed in Kenya , up from 94 in 2008 and 47 in 2007 , the service said . Also last year , 13 rhinoceroses were illegally killed in the country , up from five in 2008 , it said . In 1979 , Africa was home to some 1.3 million elephants ; by 1989 only 600,000 remained , a drop blamed almost wholly on the killing of elephants for ivory , the service said . There are currently about 400,000 elephants in Africa , it said . After the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species banned international commercial ivory trade in 1989 , demand dropped as did the price of ivory -- from $ 300 per kilo to about $ 3 per kilo , it said . As some southern African elephant populations appeared healthier , restrictions eased in 1997 and 2002 , when Botswana , Namibia , South Africa and Zimbabwe were allowed to sell limited stocks of ivory to Japan .
Two tons of ivory , five rhino horns each , at Nairobi 's airport . The horns had been disguised as ivory . Two were arrested , officials say .