Europe 1 with AFP 17:24 p.m., March 20, 2023

On Monday, Vietnamese authorities announced that they had seized seven tons of ivory taken from elephants in Angola. These were found by customs in the port of Haiphong, in the north, in a container supposed to carry, according to the official slip, peanuts.

Vietnamese authorities said Monday they had seized seven tons of ivory taken from elephants in Angola, the largest such shipment intercepted in recent years. This ivory was found by customs in the port of Haiphong (north) in a container supposed to carry, according to the official slip, peanuts. Photos released by the customs department showed hundreds of long ivory tusks stacked in front of an open container. The shipment was shipped to Vietnam via Singapore, authorities said.

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Ivory trade banned since 1992

Tusks like other parts of elephants' bodies are prized as talismans and used in traditional medicine in parts of Asia, although there is no scientific evidence of such medicinal virtues. Vietnam officially banned the ivory trade in 1992 but remains a hub for the illegal transport of wild animals in Asia.

More than 60 tons of ivory, pangolin scales and rhino horn have been seized at Vietnamese seaports since 2018, according to a 2021 report by Education for Nature Vietnam, a wildlife NGO.