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| Vietnamese police uncovers big haul of smuggled elephant tusks | |||||
Vietnamese police have found some
730 kilogrammes of smuggled elephant tusks, which is banned for trading in
the country.
The haul is the largest amount of ivory ever discovered in Vietnam. It was from a warehouse in Hanoi's Long Bien district that 276 elephant tusks were recovered. They had been chopped up and packed into 40 sacks, alongside dried fish, for easy transport. Police say it's the largest amount of smuggled tusks to be seized in the country. The haul is reportedly worth over 7.3 billion Vietnamese Dong, or about US$463,000. A truck driver was arrested but police are also seeking the owner of the Duc Minh Trading Company and his wife, who allegedly own the consignment. Investigations showed that the ivory had been smuggled from an unknown African country and were due for delivery to China and Hong Kong. Wildlife experts say there are less than 45,000 elephants left in Asia. In Vietnam, the figure is only about 100, both in the wild and in captivity. |
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