HANOI: Police in southern Vietnam seized 387 kilograms of elephant tusks last week after the ivory passed through the Prek Chak international border checkpoint in Kampot province, the state-run Viet Nam News newspaper reported Friday.
Khat Sok, deputy chief of the Interior Ministry’s border police department at Prek Chak, said Vietnamese authorities had not informed his department of the illicit haul.
“I did not know elephant tusks were being smuggled across the border from Cambodia at all,” Mr. Sok said.
“I will investigate this case.” Viet Nam News reported that the seizure was made Tuesday in Kien Giang province after border police ordered a truck to pull over for a random inspection.
There were several major seizures of ivory in Cambodia last year, which wildlife conservationists said could indicate that the country is back on the map as a major transit route for smuggling ivory into China and Vietnam, two of the biggest markets for the illicit animal product.
