More than 300 kilograms of elephant tusks seized at a Vietnam airport

04 October, 2016 | Vietnam News
An elephant walks in Serengeti National Park in this August 18,2012 file photo. (Photo: Reuters/ Noor Khamis)

HANOI – More than 300 kilograms of elephant tusks have been confiscated at Hanoi’s international airport, a customs official said Monday.

Customs officials at Noi Bai Airport seized 309 kilograms of tusks, which had been flown in on an Ethiad flight from the United Arab Emirates and landed in Hanoi on Saturday, Nguyen Truong Giang, the deputy director of the Hanoi Customs Department told DPA.

The tusks had been inventoried as hydraulic toughened glass and signed for by a Vietnamese company, he added.

“Illegal trade in ivory continues to be a major threat to the survival of elephant populations in Africa,” wildlife trade monitoring network Traffic said in a statement Sunday.

“Traffickers continue to move ivory into and through Vietnam, and this seizure highlights the country’s role in the illegal ivory trade,” the statement said. Vietnam is a frequent transport point for ivory, where it is often smuggled onwards to China.

Nearly 7 tonnes were seized in 2009 in Vietnam’s largest recorded bust.

Some ivory is sold within Vietnam for 770 dollars to 1,200 dollars per kilogram, experts say.

 

– DPA