By AFPMore by this AuthorHANOI, VIETNAMVietnam customs officials have seized nearly one tonne of ivory hidden in a timber shipment from Kenya, an official said Thursday, the third major illegal haul of precious tusks in less than a month. Ivory products are also hot in Vietnam, though the trade is officially banned. "All that ivory was not just to be consumed in Vietnam," a customs official told AFP, requesting not to be named. Vietnam outlawed the ivory trade in 1992, but shops still sell ivory dating from before the ban and weak law enforcement has allowed a black market to flourish. A two-week survey by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (Cites) last year found out that more than 16,000 ivory products were available in Hanoi.

Source: Daily Nation October 27, 2016 05:48 UTC