Vietnam police intercept large shipment of exotic animals
Hanoi - Police in Vietnam have seized a truck illegally transporting crates of wild animals destined for the cooking pot, an official said Saturday.
The truck was intercepted in Dong Nai province on its way to Hanoi. The live animals were packed into wooden crates hidden under boxes of cakes and candies. Police say they recovered 1,050 kilos of exotic animals, including snakes, turtles and lizards.
'The driver and his assistant confessed that they were hired to transport the animals from Ho Chi Minh City to Hanoi,' said Luc Van Son, a provincial police officer. 'I think the animals were to be either sold to restaurants in Hanoi or in China.'
Son said that Wednesday's seizure was the largest in Dong Nai province in nine years. Both men will be charged with illegally transporting wild animals, which carries a maximum prison sentence of seven years.
Vietnam, with its porous borders and its appetite for exotic animal meat, is at the centre of the wildlife trade in Southeast Asia.
Even though authorities are cracking down on wildlife smuggling, conservation experts say that traders are becoming more aggressive and that the number of animals being smuggled is higher than ever.
Several species have been hunted to such a degree that they are now critically endangered, said Mark Infield, director of Asia programmes in Hanoi for Fauna and Flora International.
'A least three species are at the highest threat levels,' Infield said. 'Soft shell box turtles, which exist only in Vietnam, are at imminent risk of extinction. This is a direct result of the wildlife trade where they are caught and served up in restaurants.'
Deutsche Presse Agentur - September 16, 2006.
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