Yahoo – AFP,
2 Nov 2014
A cache of
41kg of smuggled rhino horns is seen at O.R. Tambo Airport in
Johannesburg
after it was confiscated from two Vietnamese passengers on a
flight to Hanoi
from Mozambique (AFP Photo/Ho)
|
Johannesburg
(AFP) - Two Vietnamese men were arrested at Johannesburg airport with a record
haul of 18 rhino horns, weighing 41 kilos (90 pounds), during a stopover on a
flight from Mozambique to Vietnam, South African police said Saturday.
"This
is the largest haul of rhino horns seized in one operation in South
Africa," said a joint statement from police and customs officials.
The flight
had started in Maputo, Mozambique, and was heading to Hanoi.
Police said
it was believed the horns, which were still intact, were removed from South
African rhinos.
The two
Vietnamese, aged 25 and 26, were in police custody after being stopped late
Friday. They were due to appear in court on Monday.
"They
will possibly be charged with transporting, possession and dealing in
endangered species," said lieutenant general Solomon Makgale, a police
spokesman.
The Qatar
Airways flight had been due to make a one-hour stop at OR Tambo airport but a
"very credible" tip-off led authorities to ask passengers to leave
the plane so they could investigate, Makgale said.
Demand for
rhinoceros horn -- which is made from keratin, the same material in hair and
nails -- has skyrocketed in recent years, largely driven by demand from Asia,
where the powdered horn is valued for its supposed medicinal properties.
A campaign
poster on a building in downtown Hanoi on August 28, 2014 warns
people not to
buy rhino horn (AFP Photo/Hoang Dinh Nam)
|
South
Africa is home to around 20,000 rhinos, some 80 percent of the worldwide
population.
The country
is in the midst of a growing rhino poaching crisis, and has seen more than 730
rhinos killed this year.
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