Hong Kong ( CNN ) -- Hong Kong authorities said Friday that they had confiscated $ 1.4 million worth of ivory that arrived smuggled in a shipping container from Africa , the second large seizure of tusks at the busy port in the past month . Customs officials discovered the 1,330 kilograms ( about 2,900 pounds ) of illegal ivory Thursday in a container from Tanzania that was marked as carrying sunflower seeds , authorities said . The 569 tusks , worth 10.56 million Hong Kong dollars ( about $ 1.4 million U.S. ) , were in the back of the container , buried under hundreds of bags of the seeds . The Hong Kong government said customs officials are investigating the case and are still trying to find `` the smuggling syndicate members . '' The container had been picked out for inspection based on `` risk assessment , '' authorities said . The seizure follows the roughly $ 3.4 million worth in ivory found in two shipping containers last month , one of the largest amounts ever seized in Hong Kong . Those containers arrived from Tanzania and Kenya , according to Hong Kong customs officials . The agency seized 1,209 pieces of ivory tusks and 3 pounds of ivory ornaments from the two containers , discovered over a period of two days . In that case , Hong Kong customs officials were on alert after a tip-off from officials in Guangdong , China . Read more : Priest embroiled in ivory smuggling controversy . Seven people , including one Hong Kong resident , were arrested by Chinese officials in connection with the case , authorities said at the time . Hong Kong is viewed as a transit point for the illegal ivory trade , feeding into increasing demands in China , according to a Time article published last month . Elephants are being killed in Africa at an alarming rate as international demand soars for ivory . Much of the demand comes from increasingly affluent Asian countries , particularly China and Thailand . Before this year , the most recent major bust in Hong Kong occurred in 2011 , when officials seized a shipment of ivory and rhinoceros horns valued at $ 2.2 million Hong Kong dollars . Journalist Paavan Mathema contributed to this report .
This is the second large amount of ivory confiscated in Hong Kong in the past month . 569 tusks were found under sunflower seeds in a shipping container . The container came from Tanzania as was picked out for inspection by officials .