The tiger trade is unique when compared to the illegal trade of other wildlife in Vietnam, due to their rarity and high value. This often results in traders taking extra measures to assure secrecy in their dealings. Vietnam’s illicit tiger trade is carried out by elaborate criminal networks that avoid detection through the use of disposable cell phones, connections across international borders, and using friends in high places to facilitate a smooth and steady flow of their product to the consumer.

Most tigers confiscated in Vietnam originate from foreign sources, smuggled into Vietnam from Laos, Cambodia, and Thailand where major farming operations hunt, breed, and launder animals from the wild. A number of key figures behind the tiger trade in Vietnam have been identified by ENV but managed to avoid prosecution by distancing themselves from criminal activities or operating under protection of local officials. Prosecutions tend to target low-level figures involved in transport or organizing sales, and only a few of these prosecutions result in prison time.

In 2021, ENV’s Wildlife Crime Unit recorded 1,213 tiger crime violations. These violations include the seizure of 24 live tigers, including those found in illegal basement ‘tiger farms’ of Nghe An province, the tiger trafficking hotspot of Vietnam.