Tusks seized from New Alipore house

Alipore: Two elephant tusks weighing around 31kg were seized from a house in New Alipore Block B on Tuesday

One of the tusks is 148cm-long and has a girth of 35cm, while the other has a length of 132cm and a girth of 34cm.

"The tusks were found in the possession of Rabin Paul. We are trying to find out the ownership before taking further action," an officer of the CID said.

The team that raided the New Alipore house following a "specific" tip-off comprised representatives of the CID and the wildlife wing of the state forest department. Calcutta police helped the raiding team.

Possessing or trading in ivory is banned around the world.

A kilogram of uncarved ivory can cost anything between Rs 20,000 and Rs 70,000 in the black market, while intricately carved items can fetch up to crores of rupees.

"Ivory trade within India has come down significantly. Poachers usually target the illegal markets in China, Japan, Thailand, Vietnam and some other Asian countries where the demand for ivory is high.

There, ivory is used in personalised nameplates, statues, and other items," a forest department official said.

Elephant are protected under Schedule 1 of the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972. Killing the animal or keeping any ivory item can attract at least three years in jail and a fine of Rs-50,000.

India is home to 27,300 of the 50,000-odd Asian elephants found across the world, according to the 2017 count. At the turn of the century, there were 2,50,000 Asian elephants in 13 countries.

More than 80 elephants were killed in India over the past three years.

A report released by the environment ministry states that Karnataka has the largest number of elephants, followed by Assam and Kerala.

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Joint efforts called for to protect last wild elephants in Vietnam

The diplomat made the statement while addressing a talk held by the US Embassy in Hanoi, on August 11, in response to World Elephant day (August 12), under the theme “Please treat elephants well”.

In attendance at the event were Nguyen Dao Ngoc Van and Alegria Olmedo from the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), Rose Indenbaum from TRAFFIC, and Nguyen Thi Phuong Dung from Education for Nature Vietnam (ENV).

During the talk, delegates called for greater attention to elephants and their difficult living conditions, whilst discussing possible ways to preserve the last 100 wild elephants that remain in Vietnam.

The event enabled participants to understand more about the ways in which they could tackle the threats to elephants, through voluntarily joining wildlife organisations, supporting wildlife preservation efforts and raising awareness of the elephants’ struggle for survival.

Earlier on August 10, the US Embassy screened a film entitled “Ivory Game”, a documentary film featuring illegal elephant ivory trade, from the moment the elephant was poached in Africa to the moment when the elephant ivories were sold illegally in Asia.

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Hanoi customs officer caught stealing 150kg of elephant tusks

Legal procedures for embezzling property are currently underway against Pham Minh Hoang, a public servant at the Hanoi customs department, by the municipal police department.

Two of Hoang’s accomplices were also arrested to support the investigation.

An announcement made by the Hanoi customs department on Thursday confirmed that Hoang was serving as the keeper of the agency’s warehouse.

The customs officer abused his role to steal and sell a 150-kilogram shipment of ivory that had been confiscated by the customs department and stored at the facility.

Hoang is currently suspended from his position to facilitate the probe.

The General Department of Vietnam Customs asserted that a stern punishment is expected to be imposed upon the corrupted officer, in accordance with the law,

It also ordered the Hanoi customs department to carry out a comprehensive review of its organization and policies and correct any shortcomings or loopholes in the management of confiscated products.

The agency is coordinating with the municipal police to identify additional accomplices and return stolen products.

Authorities are continuing to investigate the matter.

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Elephant tusks, leopard skins smuggled from Africa seized at airport

HCM CITY – Tân Sơn Nhất airport customs officers on Sunday found elephant tusks and tails, leopard skins, and wild animal claws worth VNĐ2 billion (US$90,000) in the luggage of a Vietnamese woman who had been on a flight from Africa to HCM City.

The name of the woman was not disclosed.

Checking the luggage of the 62-year-old passenger, the officers found nearly four kilogrammes of elephant tusks, nine elephant tails, three leopard skins and many claws, all of which were from animals listed in the Red Book, according to the HCM City Customs Department.

Last month, the airport’s customs officers detected several smuggling cases of rhino horns, elephant tusks and pangolin scales worth a total of over VNĐ10 billion ($450,000), transported from Africa to HCM City.

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Starving elephants go on rampage

Lack of food has caused wild elephants in Nghe An Province to trample through a number of villages recently.

Nghe An is one of three provinces with the largest population of wild elephants in Vietnam. Still, the species is on the brink of extinction, with only about 17 elephants in the province.

In 2011, a small herd of elephants killed a villager in Luc Da Commune when the man tried to chase them away. In 2013, the elephants destroyed crops in Phuc Son Commune and killed a villager who crossed their path. In March six elephants were foraging in Cao Veu 3 Village and destroyed 10ha of sugarcane and other crops.

Local people said more and more elephants have stampeded because forestland is decreasing, causing food shortages.

Nguyen Huu Minh, chairman of Phuc Son Commune People’s Committee said, “We have transferred 4,000 ha of forestland to a company for a rubber plantation. This area had bamboo and banana trees, which provide food of the elephants. Without a food source, the elephants are beginning to come into villages.”

The elephants are also threatened by poachers. There are now three herds living in Nghe An Province. According to the Institute of Ecology and Biological Resources’ reports on elephants in Pu Mat National Park, since 1995 at least nine elephants were shot or killed by dynamite.

The people of Phuc Son used dynamite to kill three elephants when they stampede the village in 1996. A few years later, two elephants were found dead without their tusks. Another elephant was killed for its tusks in 2011. The director of Pu Mat National Park said the elephants are still reproducing, but without proper protection mature elephants will continue to be killed.

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Vietnam seizes 2 tons of smuggled elephant tusks

More than 2 tons of ivory tusks, hidden inside a container imported from Malaysia, were found by customs authorities in the northern port city of Hai Phong.

Nguyen Kien Giang, director of division 3 of Hai Phong Customs, said on Wednesday that after noticing the suspicious looking container, customs officers decided to scan and open it for inspection last week.

The customs declaration for the 40’ container claimed it held 27.5 tons of sea shells, but in fact, it was packed with elephant tusks and other goods banned from importation.

Each of these tusks were cut into three or four pieces, customs officer said.

The writer of the declaration is the one-member branch of the Hai Phong Trading, Services, Import and Export LC located in Quang Ninh Province, who insisted that the container is classified as goods temporarily imported for re-export.

In fact, the branch has made another customs declaration for re-exporting the container to China via northern Lang Son Province.

The value of the tusks has yet to determined, but customs officers said a haul of 769 kg ivory tusks in Hong Kong had an estimated sale price of US$1.49 million last week.

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Vietnam presses charges against worker over African ivory smuggling

If convicted, the man could face up to five years in prison for smuggling elephant tusks.
A Vietnamese man has been formally charged with smuggling ivory from Angola, VietnamPlus reported, citing Hanoi prosecutors.

The case is part of Vietnam’s efforts to put an end to ivory smuggling, which has been so prevalent that the country is ranked one of the world’s biggest markets. It outlawed ivory trade in 1992.

In August 2015 customs and police seized 24 pieces of elephant tusks weighted 50 kilograms (110 pounds) from the suitcase of Pham Van Luat, who failed to declare with customs officials of the goods, VietnamPlus reported.

Investigations found Luat went to work at a photocopy shop in Angola in 2012 and was offered $200 to bring the ivory back home, the report said.

Upon the seizure, Luat managed to escape, but last December he turned himself in.

If convicted, Luat could face a jail term of between six months and five years, based on Vietnam's penal code.

The usage and trading of rhino horns, mostly from Africa, is a criminal offence in the Southeast Asian country, but demand is strong as many people believe rare animal parts can cure diseases.

Vietnam also serves as a trafficking hub for tusks bound for other parts of Asia, conservationists say.

Hanoi has rejected such allegations but has also stepped up the fight against smuggling and launched campaigns to raise public awareness about the usage of rhino horns.

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Vietnam seizes illegal ivory shipment

Around 350kg of ivory hidden in a shipping container has been seized in Vietnam, an official said today (Feb. 21), the first major bust of the illegally-trafficked product this year.

Although the ivory trade has been banned in Vietnam since 1992, the country remains a top market for ivory products prized locally for its purported decorative and medicinal purposes.

The country is also a busy thoroughfare for tusks trafficked from Africa destined for other parts of Asia.

The latest ivory haul was discovered in the Soc Son District of Hanoi, according to customs officials. They said laboratories were testing the 350-kilogramme haul to definitely conclude if they are elephant tusks

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EWildlife smugglers using Facebook to sell ivory and rhino horn

An investigation reveals the social media site is acting as a shopfront for a multimillion dollar trade in animal parts, centred in a small village outside Hanoi

Wildlife traffickers from a small, sleepy village in Vietnam are using Facebook to offload large amounts of illegal ivory, rhino horn and tiger parts, an investigation has revealed.

The results of an 18-month sting by the Wildlife Justice Commission (WJC) – shared with the Guardian – were presented at a public hearing in November at the Peace Palace in the Hague. They showed how social media sites such as Facebook are allowing traders greater access to customers.

“It’s wildlife trafficking on an industrial scale,” said Olivia Swaak-Goldman, the executive director of the WJC.

Undercover investigators visited the Vietnamese village of Nhi Khe, known as a wildlife trafficking hub, five times in the past year and scoured Facebook and WeChat, which is popular in China. In all, they tallied illegal wildlife products worth US$53.1 million (366.6 million yuan) stemming from just 51 traders in the village for sale in person and online.

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Vietnam Seizes Large Shipment of Illegal Ivory

Vietnamese authorities have seized 619 kilograms (1,362 pounds) of ivory illegally shipped from Africa after finding 4 tons at the same port over the past two months, state media and an official said Friday.

The ivory seized Thursday had been hidden in two containers arriving at Cat Lai port in southern commercial hub of Ho Chi Minh City, the city's Customs newspaper said.

Le Dinh Loi, the city's deputy customs chief confirmed the report, but did not give more details Friday.

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Vietnam destroys huge ivory, rhino horn cache

HANOI: Vietnam destroyed a huge stockpile of ivory and rhino horn Saturday, urging the public to stop consuming illegal wildlife products driving several species towards extinction.

The ivory and rhino horn trade is officially banned in Vietnam, but its use in traditional medicine and for decoration remains widespread, especially among the communist country’s growing elite.


It is also a popular transit point for African ivory and rhino horn destined for neighbouring China, the main market for products fuelling the illicit and lucrative trade.

More than two tonnes of ivory and 70 kilogrammes (154 pounds) of rhino horn were crushed and burned on the outskirts of Hanoi as armed guards protected the more than 30 crates of horns, tusks and bones being destroyed.

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Vietnam destroys 2 200kg seized ivory, rhino horns

Hanoi - Vietnamese authorities destroyed more than 2 200kg of seized elephant ivory and rhino horns on Saturday, sending a message ahead of a key international conference the country is hosting next week that they want illegal wildlife trafficking stopped.

The seized horns - estimated to be worth more than $7m on the black market - came from some 330 African elephants and 23 rhino that were slaughtered by poachers to meet the demand for ivory, used to make jewellery and home decorations, and rhino horns, in the misguided belief they can cure cancer.

The horns were crushed and then burned on the outskirts of Hanoi, with Vietnam joining 20 other nations in destroying seized wildlife products.

An international conference on the illegal wildlife trade will be held next week in Hanoi, Vietnam's capital. It will be attended by officials and experts including Britain's Prince William, a vocal critic of the illegal wildlife trade.

Vietnam is one of the world's major transit points and consumers of trafficked ivory and rhino horns.


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Over 900 pounds of ivory seized in Vietnam

Vietnamese authorities have seized 446 kilograms (981 pounds) of ivory shipped from Nigeria after finding 3.5 tons at the same port last month.

Customs official Le Dinh Loi says the ivory seized Tuesday had been hidden in timber in a container at Cat Lai port in the southern commercial hub of Ho Chi Minh City.

Authorities seized 3.5 tons of ivory in three shipments smuggled from Africa at the same port last month.

State media say 1 ton of ivory costs $1.8 million on the black market.

Elephant ivory is used as jewelry and home decorations in Vietnam, which bans hunting of its own dwindling population of elephants.

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Illegal Trafficking: 500 kilograms of elephant tusks seized in Vietnam

500 kilograms of elephant tusks were learned Tuesday in Vietnam. The arrest was announced by the Ho Chi Minh authorities, who found a half ton of prey hidden elephant in two containers, coming from Africa.

Hidden between wood and sawdust, the elephant tusks were found in the port of Cat Lai, after a local company has treated its coming import from Africa.

This is not an isolated situation with the Vietnamese authorities to register three similar cases only in the last month. Last month the elephant tusks smuggled seizures amounting to 3.5 tonnes.


Used in traditional medicine or as a luxury object, elephant tusks remain the prime target for poachers in Africa. The data indicate that the poaching of elephants has been declining since 2011, but still, about 30,000 pachyderms continue to be killed every year.

The latest figures indicate that Africa currently has about 450,000 elephants living in their own land.

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Vietnam a port for smuggled elephant tusks

Following multiple cases of elephant tusks being smuggled through Vietnam, authorities have confirmed the country as an intermediate port in the illegal shipment of the wildlife parts.

According to the Vietnam Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), during the 2010-15 period, customs officers uncovered a total of 116 cases of animal smuggling and trading, confiscating over 22 tonnes of ivory and 457 ivory bracelets.

Authorities have also seized a considerable volume of elephant tusks this year.

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Woman caught with ivory at Vietnam airport

Last Updated: Wednesday, September 19, 2012 09:00:00

A woman was caught at Hanoi airport with 19 kilograms of ivory and ivory products Monday, Lao Dong newspaper reported.
A team of officials from the Hanoi Market Management Department on duty outside Noi Bai International Airport felt suspicious and asked to checkNghiem Thi Hoa's suitcase.

They found 677 pieces of ivory weighing 19 kilograms besides 15 bracelets, 90 pairs of chopsticks, and 10 chains made of ivory.

Hoa, 57, of the northern Ninh Binh Province, confessed to bringing the ivory from Angola to sell here.

Customs officials had failed to find the ivory and she had almost got into a car when the market officials confronted her.

They seized the goods and got Hoa to sign off on a list of violations.

Vietnam banned the ivory trade in 1992.

Wild elephant deaths investigation ordered

The Yok Don National Park has asked local authorised agencies to conduct an investigation into why two wild elephants died last Saturday in Central Highlands Dak Lak Province's Ea Sup District.

The elephants - one female and one male with his tusks removed and his trunks cut out - are believed to belong to a herd of 29 wild elephants living in the national park.

Senior Lieutenant Colonel Tran Manh Hieu, deputy head of the district's Police Department, said that the elephants were likely killed.

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Vietnam Nabs Ivory Smugglers With 26 Elephant Tusks

Playfuls.com
December 21, 2006
Police in northern Vietnam arrested three people after seizing more than 100 kilograms of elephant tusks destined for the ivory trade, an official said Thursday.
Traffic police in Quang Ninh province stopped a taxi en route to Mong Cai Town near the border with China last Saturday and found 26 elephant tusks weighing 117.5 kilograms.
"They were transporting the tusks to the border to send them to China," said Tran Ngoc Duong, a policeman of Quang Ninh province, 150 kilometers east of Hanoi.
Hoang The Vinh, 34, the owner of the tusks, confessed to the police that he had bought the tusks in Nghe An province in central Vietnam for 4.5 million dong (280 dollars) per kilogram, police said.
The arrested, including Vinh, Chu Hong Sang, 39, and Ngo Thi Nga, will be charged with smuggling and violating regulations on protecting wild animals.

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