Vietnamese authorities have seized more than 100 kilograms of rhino horns at Hanoi’s Noi Bai International Airport.

The illegal cargo was allegedly smuggled into the country in suitcases from Nairobi, Kenya.

According to state-news agency VNS, customs and anti-smuggling officials say the rhino horns inside the two suitcases weighed 51.1kg and 60.84kg.

Vietnam is reportedly one of the world’s largest markets for rhino horn, believed to have medicinal properties and is in high demand among the communist nation’s growing middle class.

Conservationists have warned that rhinos will become extinct within the next 10 years if poaching is not stopped.

– TiVi Tuan-san