"Fake" enterprise imports nearly half a ton of ivory

	INTERPOL pays attention to the seizure of smuggled ivory of Vietnam Customs
	Another two imported containers containing ivory detected
	Nearly a ton of ivory detected through Cat Lai port

The ivory was seized on November 1, 2016. Photo: T.H.

The above ivory was seized immediately after the shipment came to Cat Lai port on the night of October 31, 2016. The manifest showed that goods were wooden products imported from Nigeria to Vietnam with Binh Duong as the port of destination. The consignee Production Trading Services Ltd. Company (Chon Thanh, Binh Phuoc).

Due to the information about ivory in the shipment, after the goods were loaded at 2am on November 1, 2016, the Customs Control Team carried out physical inspections, discovered and seized 446 kg of ivory inside wooden blocks.

After Customs officers could not contact the business representative through phone number, the Customs Control Team came to the headquarters registered by the enterprise in Chon Thanh, Binh Phuoc. In fact, the enterprise changed the legal representative in October 2016. At the registered headquarters of the enterprise, Customs authorities detected no active business and the headquarters which the enterprises registered was only a kiosk without table address and name.

According to the Customs Control Team, it was likely that the enterprise changed its name to avoid the detection of Customs officers.

Thus, along with more than 2 tons of ivory from Africa discovered on October 6, from October to early November, Customs officers discovered 3 ivory smuggling cases on the sea with nearly 2 tons of ivory. All 3 cases of smuggled ivory are currently handled by Customs officers for criminal prosecution.

According to the analysis of representatives of the HCM City Department of Customs and the Ministry of Public Security C74 which destroyed smuggled ivory cases, the ivory was all hidden in hollow wooden blocks. In addition, the wooden blocks containing ivory were mingled with dozens of normal wooden blocks in containers in order to deceive Customs officers. All 8 containers with smuggled ivory were imported from African countries. In which, every half of the number of containers in the shipment was camouflaged to contain ivory.

Prosecute the smuggling case of more than 2 tons of ivory through Cat Lai VCN – Sai Gon port area 1 Customs Branch – HCMC Customs Department has issued Decision No. ...

The above information has shown that this is a ring of smuggled ivory organized meticulously and thoroughly from foreign consignors to enterprises in Vietnam. Initial investigation also revealed that enterprises used fake names to import ivory and even changed the port of destination and types of import to deceive Customs officers.