Police in the southern Dong Nai province have detained five men who illegally possessed four guns on suspicion that they have killed wild elephants in the area. The detainees are Cao Van Minh, Phan Ngoc Hoang, Nguyen Minh Duc, and Do Tuan Vu, who have been charged with using weapons illegally and are being investigated for alleged involvements in recent cases of deaths of wild elephants. Minh and Hoang are residing in Dong Nai while Duc and Vu hail from the Central Highlands province of Lam Dong. Minh and Duc were arrested on October 13 when they were travelling into a forest managed by La Nga Forestry Company in Dong Nai’s Dinh Quan District on a motorbike. On searching, police found and seized an AR15 gun, 40 bullets and a gun silencer. The men failed to show a gun use license, so police seized all of the weapons. Based on the men’s testimonies, police later seized Hoang and Vu. On searching the homes of Duc, Minh and Vu, police seized two hand-made guns, an airgun and 600 bullets.  All the four men confessed that they had often come into forests to hunt wild elephants and other animals illegally since 2010. They also told investigators that they had bought guns and ammunition from Nguyen Thi Ngoc, a 37-year-old woman in Ho Chi Minh City. After verification, the police arrested Ngoc for illegally storing and trading in weapons and explosives. The police are continuing investigation to clarify whether the detainees are involved in recent killing of wild elephants in Dong Nai. According to statistics, Vietnam now has between 75 and 130 wild elephants, mainly in Dong Nai, central Nghe An Province and the Central Highlands province of Dak Lak. Vietnam officially banned the trade of elephant tusks in 1992 to discourage people from hunting the country's dwindling population of elephants, which poachers value highly for their tusks.