Malaysian authorities have seized a record amount of 50 rhino horns worth an estimated 12 million USD at Kuala Lumpur International Airport as they were bound for Vietnam.
Malaysian authorities have seized a record amount of 50 rhino horns worth an estimated 12 million USD at Kuala Lumpur International Airport as they were bound for Vietnam (Photo: VNA)
Hanoi (VNA) – Malaysian authorities have seized a recordamount of 50 rhino horns worth an estimated 12 million USD at Kuala LumpurInternational Airport as they were bound for Vietnam.
Customs officials at the airport said on August 20 that the 50 rhino hornsweighed 116 kilogrammes and are worth about 50 million ringgit (12 million USD).The seizure was the biggest ever in Malaysia's history in terms of the numberof horns and value.
Officials also found a big amount of animal bones, which are believed tobe from tigers and leopards, weighing about 200 kilogrammes with an estimatedvalue of 500,000 ringgit.
Trading in rhino horn was banned globally in 1977 by the Convention on InternationalTrade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), but illegalhunters have decimated rhino populations to satisfy demand of people in East Asiancountries.
A kilogramme of rhino horn can be sold for tens of thousands of dollarsin the region, where many falsely believe it can cure cancer. Meanwhile, gluemade from tiger and leopard bones are also popular in Asia.
Kuala Lumpur is a hub for cheap flights around Southeast Asia, and has becomea key transit point in the smuggling of rare animal parts.
Last year, Malaysia seized about 3.1 million USD worth of rhino hornsflown in from Mozambique via Qatar.-VNA
The customs at Tan Son Nhat international airport in Ho Chi Minh City, in coordination with the police, has seized seven pieces of rhino horn weighing nearly 5 kg.
Thai police have arrested a Thai Vietnamese for his links with a case of trafficking of 14 rhino horns from South Africa to Thailand in December 2017, local media reported.
16 organisations in wildlife protection in Vietnam signed a letter calling for strict trial of Nguyen Mau Chien, the suspected mastermind of a trans-national rhino horn trafficking ring.
The People’s Court of Ha Dong district in Hanoi on March 20 handed down a jail sentence of 13 months on Nguyen Mau Chien for smuggling 36kg of rhino horn, according to the Education for Nature Vietnam (ENV).
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Malaysian authorities have seized a record amount of 50 rhino horns worth an estimated 12 million USD at Kuala Lumpur International Airport as they were bound for Vietnam (Photo: VNA) 
