End the Killing of Elephants for VN Ivory Trade

News from the frontlines

In 2025, our crime fighters received a total of 72 wildlife crime cases involving 188 violations related to elephant ivory. Most of these reported violations involved advertising and selling ivory products on social media. Our team successfully addressed 203 ivory crime cases in 2025; many of these cases were initially reported during the previous period.

Below are examples of ENV successes involving ivory in 2025:

On January 6, 2025, Phu Xuyen District Police in Hanoi confiscated 11.7 kg of elephant ivory pieces being transported by a delivery service during an operation undertaken in cooperation with ENV. Later, police arrested the owner at his residence in Tay Ninh (Case ref. 32378/ENV).

On April 3, 2025, Facebook responded to mass crime reporting from ENV staff, volunteers, and members of the public and deactivated a wildlife trading group called "Fengshui Ivory Jewelry", which contained 19,221 members. The mass reporting took place during ENV's monthly Wildlife Crime Cyber Day campaign on March 19, 2025. The group, which facilitated the buying and selling of elephant ivory, tiger, and bear products, was first reported to ENV by a member of the public (Case ref. 33003/ENV).

On April 16, 2025, Facebook removed a wildlife trading group named "Feng Shui Decorative Ivory", which had 21,772 members, following a report submitted by ENV through the Ministry of Communications. The group, which was facilitating the sale of elephant ivory, tiger, and bear products, was initially reported to ENV by a member of the public (Case ref. 28131/ENV).

On April 22, 2025, the Economic Department of Hanoi City Police arrested a woman and confiscated 5.5 kg of African elephant (Loxodonta africana) ivory pieces and four ivory pendants during an operation undertaken in cooperation with ENV. The subject had previously been arrested in 2018 for smuggling 2.38 kg of ivory products. After checking her phone, police found her supplier's contact and then quickly inspected the supplier’s residence, where they confiscated an additional 1.1 kg of ivory. On September 18, 2025, a Hanoi court sentenced the woman to 16 months in prison, while her supplier was given a 14-month suspended sentence with 28 months of probation. The ivory products were destroyed (Case ref. 12083/ENV).

On August 1, 2025, Khanh Hoa Provincial Police, acting on an ENV report, inspected a shop catering to Chinese tourists and seized rhino horns, rhino horn pieces, elephant ivory statues, bear bile vials, gallbladders, pangolin scales, tiger bone TCM bars, and other wildlife products. Additionally, numerous undocumented health food products were found. At the time of the inspection, 29 Chinese and 33 Vietnamese individuals were working at the shop. Three Chinese individuals and a Vietnamese woman were arrested (Case ref. 33639/ENV).

On November 5, 2025, Angolan authorities arrested three Vietnamese men and confiscated 57 elephant tusks weighing a total of 426 kg. One of the subjects was involved in several previous ivory seizure cases in which shipments were sent from Angola to Vietnam. He is currently working as a loan shark at a casino in Venice City, Luanda, Angola (Case ref. 35102/ENV).

On December 15, 2025, Thuong Tin Commune Police of Hanoi, in response to a report from ENV, arrested a well-known wildlife trafficker and confiscated 2.6kg of African elephant (Loxodonta africana) ivory. The subject used a clone account to advertise rhino horn and ivory products. He was also reportedly the owner of 9.8 kg of ivory tusks seized in Ninh Binh province in 2024 (Case ref. 16520/ENV).

Until next time, we look forward to sharing more updates on what your donations have helped achieve,

The ENV Team

Links:

• ENV's website