Police in China have confiscated more than 1,300 pounds of illegal ivory and ivory products after a one-year crackdown on illegal wildlife trade.

The seizure is worth an estimated of 22 million yuan ($3.45 million), according to police in east China's Jiangxi Province.

China has stepped up its fight against illegal wildlife trafficking, particularly the illegal ivory trade which is fueled by a high demand in China. According to local reports, 22 ivory objects weighing more than about 30 pounds each were found in the trunk of a car in Fuzhou City. The suspect caught at the site revealed the products were set to be transported to east China's Fujian Province.

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This led to a year-long crackdown by police spanning seven province, and the breakup of a chain of ivory smuggling, processing and dealing. The police apprehended the owner of an ivory processing factory in Fujian and seized more than 1,100 pounds of ivory and ivory products at his plant.

China punishes anyone involved in the illegal ivory trade to a prison sentence that ranges from six months to life.

Between 2008 and 2013, 30,000 to 50,000 elephants were killed each year for their ivory, according to U.K.-based wildlife charity The Born Free Foundation. According to the charity, ivory dealers employ and arm poachers, who in turn target entire herds of elephants, shooting them with automatic weapons and hacking off their tusks with axes and chainsaws.

Earlier this month, Forestry police in Beijing confiscated more than seized 1,700 pounds of illegal wildlife products, including those made from ivory, rhinoceros horn, and bear paws.

TagsChinese Police Seize 1 ½ Tons of Illegal ivory, illegal ivory trade, Jiangxi Province, illegal wildlife trade, The Born Free Foundation, China's Fujian Province