TIGER BONES IN A CONSIGNMENT OF CONCH SHELLS
Institute of Ecology and Biological Resources (Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology) has just announced the conclusion of animal identification as tiger and leopard bones hidden in the consignment of conch shells discovered by the HCM City Customs Department.
Earlier, at the end of May 2022, the Standing Committee of the General Department of Customs and the Customs Enforcement Team chaired and coordinated with the Saigon Port Customs Branch Area 1, the Southern Anti-Smuggling Control Team (Team 3), Anti-Smuggling and Investigation Department – General Department of Customs inspected imported goods and detected a large amount of smuggled goods.
The shipment belongs to K.L.T Import-Export Trading Service Co., Ltd under the name of carrying out import procedures. According to the customs declaration, the imported consignment consisted of over 13 tons of dried shells (raw materials for handicrafts), which arrived at Cat Lai port at the end of May 2022.
The number of tiger bones hidden in the consignment of imported snail shells at the end of May was discovered by the authorities. Photo: T.H
Suspecting abnormal signs, the Customs Control Team – Ho Chi Minh City Customs Department. Ho Chi Minh City has coordinated with Saigon Port Customs Branch Area 1 to stop customs clearance and conduct inspection for this shipment. The functional force discovered, in addition to the shells left outside the container, inside there were many goods without customs declaration, including: Nearly 600kg of dried seahorses, 38 animal bones, 86kg of pangolin scales. All of these goods are in violation of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES).
According to the inspection results, the shipment contained: Bones of tiger species listed in Appendix I, List of wild fauna and flora species in the Appendix to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora. (CITES) issued together with Notice No. 296/TB-CTVN-HTQT dated November 27, 2019 by the CITES Management Authority of Vietnam.
The leopard skull has the scientific name Panthera pardus, listed in Appendix I, CITES List; Dried seahorse has scientific name hippocampus comes. All species of hippocampus spp. listed in Appendix II, CITES List; Java pangolin scales have scientific name Manis javanica listed in Appendix I, CITES List.
The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) is a multilateral treaty. The Convention was signed in 1973 and entered into force on July 1, 1975. Up to now, with 175 member countries, CITES is the international conservation treaty with the largest number of members worldwide.
The aim of CITES is to ensure that international trade in specimens of wild fauna and flora does not threaten the survival of these species in the wild, and it also provides for varying degrees to protect more than 34,000 species of plants and animals.
Source: Tạp chí điện tử Kỹ thuật Chống hàng giả và Gian lận Thương mại
