Authorities in Vietnam discover more than a ton of concealed ivory illegally shipped from Africa

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HANOI, Vietnam (AP) — Authorities in Vietnam have announced a major seizure of ivory they say was illegally shipped from Africa, Vietnamese media reported Thursday.

The haul of 221 pieces of elephant ivory weighing 1,193 kilograms (2,630 pounds) was announced and displayed to the media on Wednesday at Quy Nhơn port in the central province of Gia Lai, said reports by the Vietnam News Agency and other news outlets.

Vietnam is a major hub for the illicit trade of wildlife, both dead and alive. Much of the contraband is transhipped to China, but there is also demand in Vietnam itself and other Southeast Asian countries.

Thursday’s reports said inspections last week discovered the ivory hidden in sawn timber that was in a shipment of three containers that arrived on July 9.

The illegal cargo also contained 79.3 kilograms (175 pounds) of animal bones that the reports said came from animals in the category of big cats, such as tigers. Crushed animal bones are used in traditional Chinese medicine.

The website of the Tuoi Tre newspaper said that Gia Lai Provincial Police announced that the shipment had been transported from the Republic of the Congo.

It also said that after the contraband's discovery during customs clearance, a criminal investigation was launched for violation of regulations regarding protected animals.

Most trade in ivory from elephants and other endangered animals is banned by international agreement under CITES, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, a treaty to which almost all U.N. member countries are parties.

While the ivory shipment was reported to be the biggest ever at Quy Nhơn, it has been dwarfed by several others in the past decade of more than seven tons each in the central port city of Danang and the northern port of Haiphong.