HO CHI MINH CITY, May 3 (Xinhua) -- Vietnamese customs officers on Thursday spotted 3.3 tons of pangolin scales smuggled from Africa into Ho Chi Minh City, the municipal Customs Department said.
According to declarations of a local trading firm in Ho Chi Minh City, a container was full of dried cashew nuts imported from Nigeria to the city for transit to Cambodia, but the officers found bags of pangolin scales covered by cashew nut bags.
Earlier, on April 27, the department detected nearly 3.8 tons of smuggled pangolin scales.
Pangolin scales are still used in traditional medicines in Vietnam, although the country bans the hunting, trapping, keeping, killing, transport, sale and advertisement of pangolins or pangolin products.
