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A Vietnamese national has been arrested in Thailand after X-rays showed suspicious shapes inside a series of logs he was bringing into the country through the airport, officials said. The man, who was not identified, arrived at the Suvarnabhumi Airport from Angola on Sept. 6, according to a Sept. 7 Facebook post from the Thailand Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation.

Six people have been jailed for their involvement in the illegal trade of more than 2.8 tonnes of pangolin scales, one of the country's largest such seizures ever recorded. The People's Court of Nghệ An handed a seven-year prison term to Hồ Văn Mạnh and a three-year sentence to Trần Thị Ngọc for trading prohibited goods and violating regulations on the protection of endangered wildlife. Four other defendants - Phạm Thị Lập, Hồ Mai Yên, Cao Xuân Quý, and Nguyễn Thị Long - received sentences ranging from 15 months to three years. Quý and Long were given suspended sentences.

A Kenyan court has sentenced four men to one year in prison or pay a fine of $7,700 (£5,800) for trying to smuggle thousands of live queen ants out of the country. The four suspects - two Belgians, a Vietnamese and a Kenyan - were arrested last month with live ants suspected to have been destined for collectors in Europe and Asia. They had pleaded guilty to the charges, with the Belgians telling the court that they were collecting the highly sought-after ants as a hobby and didn't think it was illegal.

Wildlife trafficking in Việt Nam has grown increasingly sophisticated and harder to detect in recent years as traders shift their operations to digital platforms. According to a Wildlife Trade Monitoring Network's (TRAFFIC) report, Việt Nam recorded approximately 22,500 online advertisements for wildlife and wildlife products from June 2021 to July 2023. Facebook dominates as the primary platform, accounting for 51.3 per cent of the activity, followed by Zalo at 35.5 per cent.

Ten endangered flamingos have been saved after smugglers were caught trying to traffic them out of Tunisia, according to the country's customs body. Photos of the birds crammed into crates with their wings, legs and torsos bound up were posted by the force online. The flamingos were rescued close to the Algerian border on Sunday, having been "loaded onto a lorry bearing a Tunisian registration plate", officials said in a statement. The birds have now been safely returned to their natural habitat, officials added, "as part of efforts to preserve the species".

When South African officials at Cape Town's international airport came across cardboard boxes labelled as toys being sent to China they became suspicious. China is famous for exporting toys around the world - not importing them. The boxes were opened for a spot check - and instead of finding the promised toddler’s cooking set or a board game inside, they discovered bundles of endangered succulent plants all carefully wrapped in toilet paper.

The number of endangered rhinos poached in Namibia last year was the highest on record and almost twice as many as the year before, officials say. A total of 87 rhinos were killed compared with 45 in 2021, official government data show. Most were poached in Etosha, Namibia's biggest national park, officials say.