Vietnam Customs impounded 5.26 tonnes of pangolin scales hidden in two containers carrying cashew nuts and shipped from Nigeria, the government of the Asian country said in a statement posted on its website last week Friday.
It said the pangolin scales were impounded in the southern Vietnamese port of Cai Mep,
Last month, Singaporean authorities seized a total of 25.6 tonnes of pangolin scales in two separate raids, one of which was the biggest of its kind worldwide in five years.
Trading in pangolin is illegal in Vietnam, where a large number of people still believe consuming products from the critically endangered and defenceless mammal is good for their health.
The scales are often ground up and used as a scientifically unproven supplement to treat liver and bone issues, and for mothers to produce breast milk.
The raid came nine days after authorities in the northern Vietnamese city of Haiphong seized 8.3 tonnes of pangolin scales shipped from Africa, the government said in the statement.
Nguyen Van Thai, director of Save Vietnam’s Wildlife told Reuters last December that most of the pangolin scales seized in Vietnam originate from Africa but are bound for China.