Nguyen Duc Tai
According to investigations from local police, the 33-year-old man, who resides in the neighbouring province of Ha Tinh, set up shell companies using a fake ID card to allegedly smuggle wild animal parts from Africa into Vietnam. He had hired a few other people to help him run the companies.
The companies were all registered to import and export goods but the police could not identify their headquarters or see them undertake any other activity except importing goods from Africa.
Between February and September last year, police at Tien Sa Port checked consignments declared as containing wooden floors and cashew nuts imported from South Africa and Nigeria by one of the companies set up by Tai, and found inside 52 rhino horns weighing more than 138 kilogrammes, lion bones weighing 3.10 tonnes, 456 kilogrammes of ivory, and 6.23 tonnes of pangolin scales. The goods were estimated to be worth VND300 billion.
456 kilogrammes of ivory found at Tien Sa Port
Tai was arrested in June this year for the investigation, which police said is one of the largest transnational wildlife trafficking cases ever busted in Vietnam.
