A Vietnamese woman has been detained at Tan Son Nhat International Airpoirt for trying to smuggle leopard skins, ivory and other elephant parts into the country.

According to local media, the 62-year-old woman was caught on Sunday concealing the skins of three endangered African leopards, about 4 kilograms of ivory chunks, 9 elephant tails, and claws of different wild animals inside her luggage.

It’s reported that the woman touched down on a flight from Africa and was stopped by customs authorities after they spotted her acting suspiciously.

Vietnam’s state-run news agency VNA cited the municipal Customs Department as saying the smuggled items are worth an estimated VND2 billion (some $A119,000).

Over the past four weeks, the airport’s customs officers detected several cases of smuggling rhino horns, elephant tusks and pangolin scales worth over 10 billion Vietnamese dong (about $A596,000) from Africa to the city.