146 individuals of arowanas illegally imported by air

Bags contained 146 individuals of arowanas

On October 2, the leader of Noi Bai International Airport Customs Branch said that the unit worked with the Criminal Prevention and Control on Environment Police Department (Ministry of Public Security) to detect 146 indivuduals of arowanas transported from abroad to Vietnam, through Noi Bai international airport.

Previously, on the afternoon of October 1, the Noi Bai International Airport Customs Branch coordinated with competent forces to inspect a suspicious shipment at the warehouse of Noi Bai Cargo Terminal Services JSC., (NCTS warehouse).

The goods were declared as: dish drainer, clothes of all kinds, foot massagers.

However, the results of a physical inspection by the competent force found that in 11 packages with a total weight of 313kg were bags containing 146 individuals of arowanas (145 alive and 1 dead) in foam boxes.

This fish has the scientific name was Scleropages Formosus, in Appendix I of CITES (Convention on the prohibition of international trade in endangered wild fauna and flora).

Currently, the competent forces have temporarily seized all of the above arowanas and handed over to the rescue unit to preserve and nurture them in the process of continuing to investigate and clarify the case for strict handling in accordance with the law .

Regarding the wildlife protection issue, in July 2020, the Prime Minister issued Directive 29/CT-TTg on "Urgent solutions for wildlife management".

The directive stated that: to stop import of living or dead wild animals, eggs, larvae, parts and derivatives of wild animals (except aquatic species for production and processing for food, animal feed and products in accordance with the law; parts of wild animals that have been processed for producing medicine, raw materials serving for production or finished products) until new directives from the Prime Minister are issued or in special cases permitted by the Prime Minister.

All cases of import of wild animals in contravention of this directive must be strictly handled in accordance with the law provisions on illegal wild animals; for wild animals that have been granted export permits by a foreign CITES management authority to Vietnam, the border-gate customs authorities would request goods owners to return them to the place of export.

If the goods owner fails to implement this or the goods owner cannot be identified, it would be handled in accordance with the provisions of Vietnamese law on illegal wild animals.