This archive report was first published on 28 July 2019.
On July 25, 2019, Vietnamese authorities made a significant breakthrough in their fight against wildlife smuggling, seizing 55 pieces of rhino horn worth up to $7.5 million at Hanoi's Noi Bai airport.
The rhino horn, weighing a total of 125 kilograms, was found encased in plaster and had been carefully disguised to avoid detection.
According to a security source, it took half a day to break open the casts containing the rhino horn.
The seizure is a major blow to the multibillion-dollar trade in animal parts, with rhino horn being particularly prized in Vietnam for its perceived health benefits.
However, the trade in rhino horn is banned globally, and poachers in Africa have decimated wild rhino populations to meet demand.
Conservationists estimate that only about 29,000 rhinos survive in the wild, down from half a million at the beginning of the 20th century.
