Seizure of 7 tonnes of ivory from Angola, believed to be peanuts

BET À DAY

Vietnamese authorities announced on Monday that they had seized seven tonnes of ivory taken from elephants in Angola, the largest such shipment intercepted in recent years.

The ivory was found by customs in the port of Haiphong (north) in a container supposed to transport, according to the official slip, peanuts.

Photos released by the customs department showed hundreds of long ivory tusks stacked in front of a open container.

The cargo was shipped to Vietnam via Singapore, authorities said.

Tusks like other body parts of elephants are prized as talismans and used in traditional medicine in parts of Asia, although there is no scientific evidence of such medicinal benefits.

Vietnam officially banned the ivory trade in 1992 but this country remains a turning point of the illegal transport of wild animals ages in Asia.

More than 60 tonnes of ivory, pangolin scales and rhino horns have been seized from Vietnamese seaports since 2018, according to a 2021 report by Education for Nature Vietnam, a wildlife protection NGO.