Mozambique: Vietnamese arrested with rhino horns, lions’ teeth and claws

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Mozambique: Vietnamese arrested with rhino horns, lions’ teeth and claws

2:11 CAT | 11 Nov 2020

File photo: TVM

A Vietnamese woman was arrested at Maputo International Airport on Monday, found in possession of five pieces of rhino horn and 162 assorted lions’ teeth and claws.

It can be inferred that three rhinos and 12 lions, both species protected by law, were slaughtered in the amassing of the haul.

The 30-year-old woman, who had lived in Mozambique for a year, was arrested as she attempted to embark on a flight bound for Vietnam.

Police spokesman Leonel Muchina said that the alleged trafficker was caught with the help of a sniffer dog.

Vietnamese arrested in possession of rhino horns – AIM report

A Vietnamese woman is under police custody in Maputo after a foiled attempt on Monday to smuggle five rhino horns and 162 lion teeth and claws out of Mozambique, according to Maputo city police spokesperson, Leonel Muchina.

The 30 year old Vietnamese woman, whose name was not disclosed, had been living in Maputo for about a year, and she was about to board a departing international flight with the illicit wildlife trophies, intending to return to Vietnam.

But the sniffer dogs of the security scheme set up at Maputo International Airport found the presence of the banned substances after screening the passengers’ luggage.

Muchina told AIM that the woman, who is now detained in a Maputo police station, will be submitted to further questioning in order to obtain more details about where she obtained the rhino horns and lion claws.

The spokesperson also said such arrests had become quite rare in Maputo and this latest episode was the first in 2020.

Both species of African rhinos, the black and the white, are believed to be extinct in southern Mozambique. It is thus likely that the horns came from animals poached elsewhere in the region, perhaps in neighbouring South Africa.

Source: Rádio Moçambique / AIM