Customs officials in the northern port city of Hai Phong seized 7 tons of ivory illegally transported from Africa at Nam Hai Dinh Vu Port on March 20, according to the General Department of Vietnam Customs.

This is the largest ever seizure of smuggled ivory in the city.

The tusks were hidden in a container declared to contain peanuts that was one of three departing Angola and transiting in Singapore.

The case is under further investigation.

Ivory is included in Appendix I of the Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), which lists species that are the most endangered among CITES-listed animals and plants.

The trading of elephant tusks has been banned in Vietnam since 1992.