Nov 20, 2008, 6:43 GMT
Hanoi - Vietnamese authorities ordered a senior diplomat at its embassy in South Africa to return home after a television crew filmed her apparently receiving a rhinoceros horn from smugglers, a government spokesman in Hanoi said Thursday.
'We have sent the recall order to Vietnam's embassy in South Africa to repatriate Ms Vu Moc Anh,' said Le Dung, spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Dung said Vietnam's consistent position was to actively engage in the preservation of wild animals and to strictly prohibit the illegal trade of protected species.
According to a report in Thursday's Thanh Nien newspaper, the first secretary was filmed taking a rhinoceros horn from a known smuggler in front of the embassy in Pretoria two months ago. Moc Anh put the horn in her trunk and then returned to the embassy smiling.
The video was aired Monday night on the South African Broadcasting Corp's programme, 50/50, which focuses on conservation and the environment.
Soon after the broadcast, Vietnam's ambassador to South Africa, Tran Duy Thi, was quoted by Thanh Ninh stating that the first secretary had been questioned but had not admitted any wrongdoing.
Thi said it was 'regrettable' that Moc Anh could not control her greed. He added that the case has damaged Vietnam's international image.
Rhino horns are considered a valuable traditional medicine in Vietnam. They are considered to be cures for fevers, colds and high blood pressure.
The incident was not the first time that Vietnam's diplomats have been accused of engaging in the illegal wildlife trade. In 2006, police in South Africa arrested the Vietnamese trade attache for smuggling rhinoceros horns.
In 2005, Nguyen Linh Tung, who was studying in South Africa, was sentenced to two years in prison after he was caught carrying rhino horns into Vietnam.
Vietnam is a member of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, an international agency set up to help prevent the trade in endangered wild animals and plants.
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