Mozambican police seize 76 kg of rhino horn worth US$4.6 million

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Mozambican police seize 76 kg of rhino horn worth US$4.6 million

8:16 CAT | 15 Mar 2016

Notícias

The Mozambican police last week seized over 76 kilos of rhinoceros horn at Maputo International Airport.

Announcing the seizure at a Monday press conference, the spokesperson for the Maputo City Police Command, Orlando Mudumane, said the horns were discovered in two suitcases, as they were being put on a flight to Kenya.

“The Mozambican police, in coordination with customs, seized two suitcases containing 76.6 kilos of rhinoceros horn and six kilos of lion claws and teeth”, said Mudumane. The owner of the suitcases and their illicit contents has not yet been identified.

Since both African species of rhinoceros, the white and the black, are believed to be extinct in southern Mozambique. it is more than likely that the rhinos from which these horns were taken were poached in the Kruger National Park in South Africa.

The final destination of the horns is most unlikely to have been Kenya. The main market for rhino horn is the far east, particularly Vietnam, where the powdered horn is believed to have near miraculous healing powers, curing everything from hangovers to cancer. Such claims are entirely bogus since rhino horn consists mostly of keratin, the same protein found in human hair and fingernails.

The Asian demand for rhino horn has turned it into a more expensive substance than gold or cocaine. The price quoted last year was US$60,000 for a kilo of horn. So last week’s haul at the airport was worth about US$4.6 million on the illegal market.

Source: AIM