More than 27 kilos of Rhino horn worth an estimated US$1.4 million has been seized by airport officials in Thailand and Vietnam, official sources said on Monday.
A 56-year-old Vietnamese man was arrested on Sunday at Bangkok’s main airport after six pieces of horn, weighing about 10.6 kilos, were found in his luggage, authorities said.
The same day in Ho Chi Minh City in southern Vietnam, airport customs officers confiscated six pieces of rhino horn weighing some 16.5 kilos, the state-run Thanh Nien newspaper said.
In that case, a 33-year-old Vietnamese man admitted to smuggling the horn from Mozambique via Doha and Bangkok, it said.
Illegal hunting of rhinos has risen in recent years to meet surging demand for their horns in parts of Asia, in particular Vietnam where they are highly prized for their supposed medicinal qualities.
One hundred grams of Rhino horn costs up to US$5,000 on the black market in Vietnam.