Customs officers at Tan Son Nhat International Airport in HCM City on September 28 found 40 kilograms of ivory being sneaked into the country, worth around VND2.5 billion (USD119,047).
The ivory seized at Tan Son Nhat International Airport
The seize included 59 elephant tusks transported from Africa. However, the load was declared as cashew nuts.
Since early this year, Tan Son Nhat International Airport authorities found and seized over 300 kg of smuggled ivory in six separate cases. The total value for the seized goods is estimated at VND18 billion (USD857,142)..
To date, the biggest interception of ivory in Vietnam occurred in March 2009, when customs officers in Haiphong seized nearly seven tonnes of the contraband in a container shipped from Tanzania.
Trade in ivory has been prohibited internationally since 1989, after the population of African elephants sharply decreased. In Vietnam it was made illegal in the 1990s. Still, in many parts of Asia, ivory has been sough after for centuries as a precious material. The ivory trade has been illegal in Vietnam since the 1990s
