In 2023, Vietnamese authorities confiscated over seven tonnes of elephant tusks smuggled via a well-known trafficking route from Angola. The shipment, which passed through Singapore before arriving in Haiphong City, was falsely declared as containing peanuts – a likely ruse by traffickers to mask its contents. This seizure follows another major discovery in Vietnam just weeks prior, when over 600kg of ivory was intercepted at Lach Huyen port. Despite Vietnam's ban on the trade of ivory and other endangered wildlife products, demand for items such as rhino horn, pangolin scales, and tiger parts continues to fuel the illegal market. While Vietnamese courts recently issued one of the country’s harshest sentences – 13 years’ imprisonment for smuggling more than 10 tonnes of wildlife products – trafficking remains widespread.