Police in the central province of Ha Tinh on December 25 seized five tonnes of live wild animals on a bus that was moving from the south to the north.

The bus, which was stopped at National Highway 1A in Ky Anh district, Ha Tinh province, was driven by 41-year-old Nguyen Thanh Tan, residing in the Mekong Delta province of Dong Thap. The man presented relevant documents but they are illegal.

The police handed over the wild animals, including snakes, iguana, geckos and turtles, to provincial forest rangers for settlement.

According to a report on wildlife violations and law enforcement in Vietnam from 2013-2017 conducted by the WCS and the Department of Criminal Justice Statistics and Information Technology at the Supreme People’s Procuracy, Vietnam recorded more than 1,500 wildlife crimes, seizing over 41,300 kg of wildlife specimens and products, from January 2013 to December 2017.

Some 1,460 people have reportedly violated regulations on wildlife protection, of whom 432 were brought to trial with criminal charges.