Rhino Horn Seized In Mozambique Airport

File - Rhinos walk in the Hluhluwe-Imfolozi game reserve in South Africa, Dec. 20, 2015

Mozambican police have arrested a Chinese citizen at Maputo International Airport as he attempted to smuggle nine rhinoceros horns out of the country.

The 49-year-old Chinese citizen, whose name was not revealed, had wrapped the horns in aluminium foil and hid them among foodstuffs in his suitcase, according to the spokesperson for the Maputo City Police Command, Orlando Mudumane.

Mr Mudumane says the horns were discovered when the suspected trafficker attempted to check in his suitcase.

The police suspect that the arrested man was part of a criminal network. He was living in the capital, Maputo, and there were other members of the gang who brought the rhino horns to him, police said.

The police are trying to find the others, who may tell them where the rhinos were killed.

Since both species of African rhinoceros, the black and the white, are believed to be extinct in southern Mozambique, it is likely that the horns came from rhinos poached in neighbouring countries such as South Africa.

The final destination of the Chinese citizen was Vietnam, where there is a thriving rhino horn market.

This is the fourth seizure of rhino horns in Maputo this year.





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