According to the Environmental Investigation Agency, Vietnamese-led criminal syndicates operate in the illegal wildlife trade with sophisticated hierarchical structures involving syndicate heads, specialist transporters, independent operators, and workers. These networks have trafficked at least 56 tonnes of ivory seized in Vietnam and 20 tonnes seized en route to Vietnam since 2009, with actual trade volumes likely being much higher. Their operations span multiple African and Asian countries, using complex concealment methods such as hiding ivory in hollowed-out logs, fake stones, and agricultural products. The syndicates maintain extensive corruption networks that facilitate border crossings, with one ivory trafficker claiming to have successfully smuggled nearly 13.5 tonnes of illegal ivory in just three separate shipments from Mozambique to Vietnam in 2015, demonstrating the industrial scale of this criminal enterprise.