Review of huge wildlife smuggling cases handled in 2021

	15 tonnes of unknown ivory seized since 2018
	Da Nang Customs seizes a huge volume of suspected rhino horns and wildlife bones
	Defendants face jail sentence for trafficking pangolin scales

Rhino horns seized by Hai Phong Customs in November 2021.

The results in the fight against illegal trade and transportation of wild animals and plants are one of the outstanding achievements in the Customs sector's anti-smuggling work in 2021. It shows the responsibility of the Customs sector and Vietnam in combating the smuggling of these banned items. There are some notable cases.

On June 7, the Customs Enforcement Team (Hai Phong Customs Department) coordinated with the Environmental Police Department (Hai Phong Police) to inspect a shipment transported on the KMTC TOKYO vessel to Vietnam containing 8,762 kg of Giang Huong Santa, listed in Appendix II of the CITES (the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora).

On July 17, at Tien Sa port (Da Nang), Da Nang Customs Department coordinated with the Anti-smuggling and Investigation Department (under General Department of Vietnam Customs) and competent forces to inspect and detect imported shipments including 3,176.04kg of animal bones and 138,784kg of rhino horn.

On September 21, Bo Y International Border Gate Customs Branch (Gia Lai - Kon Tum Customs Department), the Kon Tum Provincial Border Guard, Ngoc Hoi District Police discovered one suspect illegally transporting five gold bars weighing 0.56kg, with an estimated value of VND700 million; and one pangolin weighing 4.6kg.

On September 23, at La Lay International Border Gate (Quang Tri), La Lay Border Gate Customs Branch (under Quang Tri Customs Department) coordinated with the Central Anti-Smuggling Enforcement Unit, the Quang Tri Border Guard Command discovered a company illegally transporting tens of cubic meters of rosewood with Lao origin and tons of chalk stone hidden in seven containers.

In October, the Customs discovered that a company declared to import more than 21 tons of frozen blood cockles, worth over VND2 billion from Indonesia. The shipment arrived at Cat Lai port from the end of September 2021.

In addition, the Customs detected 56.3kg of tiger bones, 9.7kg of clouded leopard bones, 6.6kg of leopard bones, and 17kg of lion bones. The verification agency also concluded that there were 7kg of claws and fangs of sun bears, and 87kg of wood.