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Vietnamese customs officers inspect a huge amount of suspected ivory seized from a cargo of timber from the Republic of Congo. By – (Vietnamese News Agency / AFP)
Vietnam has seized more than nine tons of suspected ivory in a cargo of timber from the Republic of Congo, customs officials said Friday in one of the largest illegal wildlife thefts of the country for years.
Although it is illegal to buy and sell ivory in communist Vietnam, the lax enforcement of the law has allowed the illicit trade to thrive on the black market.
The government has pledged to fight the illegal wildlife trade in the face of increasing international pressure and the authorities said the last collapse in downtown Danang City was the biggest in recent years.
"A huge package of 9.1-ton (20,000-pound) goods suspected of being ivory concealed in logs of wood was found and confiscated," according to Hai's news website. Quan, official spokesman for Vietnamese Customs.
The ivory-stuffed wood logs were discovered Tuesday in Danang's main port on a ship from the Republic of Congo in Central Africa, he added.
A customs official told AFP "that the authorities are still inspecting before making a final conclusion" on the substance.
Images on the state media showed stacks of alleged defenses being weighed by officers in a warehouse after the seizure.
Ivory is used for jewelry, decorative household items and traditional medicine in Vietnam, which is also a popular transit center for illegal wildlife intended for other Asian countries, mainly the China.
The government has made efforts to crack down on illegal trade, with sales being transferred online from traditional markets.
Prince William of Britain was in Vietnam in 2016 to hold a wildlife conference during which he issued an urgent appeal to stop the traffic in order to save endangered species.
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