Customs officers seize elephant meat, dead primate in Los Angeles U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers in Los Angeles have made some unusual seizures, including elephant meat, a dead primate and hundreds of handbags made from the skin of snakes, lizards and crocodiles. The agency says in a press release Monday that the illegal items were seized between May 6 and May 10 at an international mail facility and at Los Angeles International Airport. The tiny dead macaque primate from Indonesia had been declared as a gift and was addressed to North Port, Fla. The elephant meat was from a protected species in Thailand and was bound for Fresno, Calif. The 387 purses were in the baggage of a passenger from Nigeria. They were made from skins of African rock pythons, monitor lizards, dwarf crocodiles, cobras and puff adder snakes.