24 rhino horns seized
July 2013. Czech customs and police have arrested a rhino horn smuggling gang. 16 people were arrested and charged with smuggling, and 24 rhino horns were seized.
It appears that the gang members posed as hunters in South Africa, where they shot the rhinos on game farms; the horns were then imported to Europe, sometimes using fake documents. The gang planned to export the rhinos to Asia but it appears that they have been seized before they could complete the shipment.
This is not the first time rhinos have been shot, supposedly by ‘big game hunters' who turned out to be working for smuggling syndicates. South Africa changed their rules after discovering that rhino hunting licences had been awarded to Thai prostitutes posing as hunters. Possibly as many as dozens of rhino were shot, not by the Thai girls who thought they were on safari, but by ‘professional hunters. The horns were then given export licences before being shipped to the gang leaders in Asia.
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