Recent raids have found ivory from elephants killed more than 30 years ago.
The tusks were held in sealed containers by the government ofBurundi.
Researchers used DNA and carbon dating to show that some of the stored material is in the hands of criminals.
The government of Burundi did not reply to the request.
Seizures should be destroyed and not kept.
Tens of thousands of elephants were killed for their ivory in Africa over the course of a decade.
Four major seizures were examined in the study.
Most of the ivory that was captured was from elephants that had been killed in the previous three years.
Elephants killed more than 30 years ago were the majority of the ivory seized.
The markings on the tusks suggested they came from a well-guarded stockpile.
One of the world's least developed countries has banned the trade in ivory. The stores made up of 15,000 tusks were examined in 2004 by scientists from traffic international. Customs seals were put on the seven containers.
Since 2015, a number of seizures in different parts of the world have been marked with the word "Burundi"
The environment ministry of Burundi has not responded to the questions posed by the BBC.
Scientists say that the government has always claimed that their stores are safe.
The stock that's held there needs to be re-tested and the containers need to be re-opened, said Prof Samuel Wasser from the University of Washington.
The government says that the weights of the containers haven't changed, so does that mean that they're being used to smuggle out ivory and get new ivory?
He told the news that it was really bad.
Since the trade in ivory became illegal, many African countries have held onto their seized ivory.
The decision to destroy the stocks rather than destroy the ivory is being questioned by some experts.
In 2016 there was a case of stockpiles being stolen.
Evidence of seized ivory entering the illegal market has been seen by researchers.
When we sample the seized tusks, we take a little square out of the bottom of them, and there has been at least one seizure where we saw that our squares had been cut out.
Other groups say that stock can be kept for legitimate purposes.
15 African countries are currently being supported by the Elephant Protection Initiative in order to secure their ivory inventories.
John Scanlon said that ivory doesn't have any commercial value.
It is up to each country to decide on the best option for it, and each country will be guided by its own domestic considerations.
It needs to be reported if it's stored. forensic samples should be taken to identify the source of the ivory if it is destroyed.
The research was published in the national academy of sciences
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