Hanoi: Authorities have seized more than a ton of smuggled ivory at a Vietnamese port where some 6 tons were seized last year.
Customs official Le Dinh Loi in Ho Chi Minh City said the ivory seized on Wednesday in Cat Lai port had been packed with sawdust and layers of plasters and asphalt to hide it.
He said on Thursday the container held 1 356kg of ivory smuggled from Africa and was transiting through Vietnam to its destination in neighbouring Cambodia.
Vietnam bans hunting of its own dwindling elephant population but is one of the world’s major transit points and consumers of ivory and rhino horn. Ivory is used as jewellery and home decoration.
