Nearly $900,000 worth of illegal ivory seized in Vietnam

October 22, 2016 | 10:59

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Customs in Ho Chi Minh City on Friday caught more than VND20 billion (US$892,857) worth of ivory hidden in two timber containers imported from Africa to the city's Cat Lai International Port.

On October 21, officers of Cat Lat Port in Ho Chi Minh City checked two containers from Africa and found a large amount of illegally imported ivory and pangolin scales.

The ivory was covered in a special kind of glue and hidden inside the wooden trunks, according to customs officers.

With those trunks placed randomly among normal ones, the consignments managed to pass detection by scanners.

However, the seasoned customs officers cast suspicion on the shipment and decided to check the containers manually.

As of 6:30 pm on Friday, they had searched a quarter of one container and found 50 kg of ivory. Officers estimated that there must be some 500kg of illegal ivory, whose market value is approximately VND20 billion, hidden in the two containers.

The consignee of the shipment is Ho Chi Minh City-based Dao Gia Co.

Besides the ivory, officers also found numerous bags of pangolin scales concealed inside the wooden trunks.

Cat Lai port customs officers are currently working with other responsible agencies to further investigate the case.

Previously on October 7, officers at the port also seized more than two metric tons of ivory, estimated to worth hundreds of billions dong (VND100 billion = $4.48 million).

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