Vietnamese woman arrested in Nakhon Phanom with 22kg of ivory pieces

By The Nation

 

Picture: Banmuang

 

A Vietnamese woman was arrested in Nakhon Phanom Sunday evening for allegedly smuggling 22 kilogrammes of cut ivory pieces and ivory ornaments from Laos.

 

Naratpol Lertrachataprapat, chief of the Nakhon Phanom customs office, said Than Vien Ki Than (not the official spelling), 43, was arrested after customs officials found the 930 ivory pieces in a bag in the luggage compartment.

 

Officials were conducting a routine check of the bus and the travel documents of passengers at the the Third Thai-Lao Friendship Bridge's border checkpoint in Nakhon Phanom's Muang district when the discovery was made.

 

The woman claimed she was given Bt2,000 just before she boarded the bus from Laos to take the bag to an unknown recipient at the Nakhon Phanom bus terminal.

 

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/detail/breakingnews/30360539

 

-- © Copyright The Nation 2018-12-17

Perhaps she was making a "trunk" call!

I am South African and the poaching to bring to Asian countries is astonishing... I have been on many military anti poaching dawn shifts and you do not want to know how we left the poachers to suffer... put it this way, they feel the same pain they put those beautiful beasts through and some

She is likely telling the truth as bags do usually get Xrayed and checked at NKP entry.

Meanwhile, tons of it are passing through Cambodia daily.

https://www.npr.org/2018/12/16/677177377/cambodia-nabs-more-than-3-tons-of-illegal-ivory

Most illegal ivory is headed for China, along with Rhino horn, Tiger penis, and wood from protected tree species.