Nearly 1.2 metric tons of ivory from Africa were discovered in Vietnam
At the port of Quy Nhon in the central province of Gia Lai in Vietnam, 221 pieces of ivory with a total weight of 1,193 kilograms were discovered. Vietnamese media reported the discovery; the shipment was also shown to journalists.
According to reports, the ivory was discovered last week during an inspection of three containers that arrived on July 9. It was hidden inside sawn timber. Euronews, citing the newspaper Tuoi Tre, reports that the shipment was transported from the Republic of the Congo.
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The containers also contained 79.3 kilograms of animal bones. According to media reports, they came from big cats, specifically tigers. The crushed animal bones are used in traditional Chinese medicine.
The Zhalai Provincial Police stated that after the shipment was discovered during customs clearance, they launched a criminal investigation on suspicion of violating regulations regarding protected animals. Most international trade in ivory from elephants and other endangered animals is prohibited by the CITES Convention. This is reportedly the largest shipment of ivory ever discovered at the port of Quy Nhon, though shipments weighing more than seven metric tons each have been seized at the ports of Da Nang and Haiphong over the past decade.
