China banned ivory, but Vietnamese gangs keep the trade alive
Three months after leaving an inland port far up the Congo River, a consignment of timber arrived in Vietnam this summer concealing a secret it would take customs officials three weeks to uncover: nearly 1.2 tonnes of elephant ivory, smuggled halfway across the world. Tracking data reviewed by This Week in Asia shows the shipment travelled some 9,000 nautical miles (16,700km) – with stops in Sri…
Three months after a shipment of timber departed an inland port on the Congo River, customs officials in Vietnam uncovered a 1.2-tonne consignment of elephant ivory concealed within the timber. The journey of the shipment spanned 9,000 nautical miles (16,700km) across Sri Lanka and Singapore before reaching Quy Nhon, a port on Vietnam's central coast.
Port scanners detected hollow cavities in the timber, leading to the discovery of 221 sawn tusks, likely destined for China and potentially worth millions of dollars. This was the largest ivory seizure at Quy Nhon, though far from the first; between 2009 and 2018, nearly 56 tonnes of ivory were seized in Vietnam, with another 20 tonnes linked to the country seized elsewhere.
CITES prohibits the trade in elephant ivory, requiring permits for sale and transport of old artifacts. Since 2017, China has banned the sale of elephant ivory, significantly reducing demand as a major global market. Consequently, Africa's elephant populations have stabilized, recovering from a decline from around 1.3 million in 1979 to roughly 415,000 by 2015.
Despite these efforts, the supply chain remains active, with Vietnamese syndicates among the main players in the illegal ivory trade, estimated to be worth hundreds of millions of dollars annually. The recent seizure in Quy Nhon highlights that "many of the other faces behind it still operate with impunity," according to Linh Nguyen, a senior wildlife campaigner.
Vietnam has implemented stricter penalties for wildlife crimes, but the issue requires global cooperation to effectively combat the illicit trade.
Written by urgent.news from South China Morning Post's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
