2 Vietnamese arrested with rhino horns in South Africa anti-poaching operation

[James.Grage]

2 Vietnamese arrested with rhino horns in South Africa anti-poaching operation
Published November 01, 2014
Associated Press
JOHANNESBURG – South African police have arrested two Vietnamese and confiscated a large number of rhinoceros horns as part of an anti-poaching operation, authorities said Saturday.

The suspects were detained Friday night while in transit at Johannesburg's main international airport, police said in a statement. The men had left Mozambique and were on their way to Vietnam, and their bags contained 90 pounds of rhino horn, which would be worth a fortune on the illegal market, according to the statement.

Police believe the horns came from rhinoceros in South Africa, which is struggling to stop a surge in rhino poaching. The Vietnamese suspects will appear in court on Monday, and authorities said they will investigate any South African links to what they allege is an international poaching syndicate.

Some consumers in Vietnam and China view rhino horn as a status symbol and a healing agent, despite a lack of evidence that it can cure.

 

[Upton O. Good]

The bribe at O Tambo wasn't enough?

 

[Royal27]

The bribe at O Tambo wasn't enough?

Funny, I was wondering the same thing. Are they really finally starting to crack down and make a little headway, is it just that there is so much poaching going on that they are catching a few by default, or both?

Can anyone comment?

 

[Wheels]

Real Justice.

1. DNA test the horns and track them back to the farms where the animals were poached.

2. Turn the perpetrators over to the farming victims and forget about it. Let the victims administer justice.

3. This keeps the RSA legal system from being tied up.

4. This keeps verdicts like the ones Judge Thokozile Masipa administers from happening.

All the best.

 

[slad68]

The Rhino poaching problem in Africa is a huge problem. It is far bigger than we actually think it is. People you would never expect, is in fact involved in Rhino poaching "No one can be trusted" People involved are from the ordinary Tom, Dick and Harry to Doctors, Lawyers, Well known business men and woman, Police, Vet's, Pilots, Outfitters, Rhino breeders, Game farmers, Game capture-rs etc. ------ You name it they are involved.
For sure there are those who will turn the blind eye for and extra $ or 2. Those who will enforce the law unfortunately are in the minority, but they do exist.

The sad reality is that the horn is now worth more than the actual animal itself.

 

[slad68]

There might be light at the end of the tunnel though,.
You get a higher sentence for Rhino poaching in SA than for murder.

 

[Royal27]

There might be light at the end of the tunnel though,.
You get a higher sentence for Rhino poaching in SA than for murder.

Thanks - I think this is what I was asking - were folks finally being penalized. Like anything else, people will do anything to make an extra buck if they think they can get away with it.

 

[CAustin]

I hope they are locked up and the key to the cell gets lost. Let them rot!

 

[matt85]

simple, kill anyone found poaching rhino/elephant. a fair trial must be given but if they are found guilty then toss them to the Hyena.

I want to hunt a rhino some day and the only way I could ever really manage that is if the poaching problem gets resolved!

-matt

 

[slad68]

Everyone has his own opinion regarding a way to solve the problem.
Yes to shoot every poacher on the spot - it might work, in fact that is already in place. Rangers have shot a few poachers in the last couple of months.
Lock them up for ever - a good sentence is given these days.

As long as the demand is there these guy will keep coming back for more and if one or two is taken out there will be others to replace them. The issue here is the demand.

If only there was a way to solve the demand issue we could solve the poaching as well

 

[Royal27]

Everyone has his own opinion regarding a way to solve the problem.
Yes to shoot every poacher on the spot - it might work, in fact that is already in place. Rangers have shot a few poachers in the last couple of months.
Lock them up for ever - a good sentence is given these days.

As long as the demand is there these guy will keep coming back for more and if one or two is taken out there will be others to replace them. The issue here is the demand.

If only there was a way to solve the demand issue we could solve the poaching as well

Spot on!!!!

The drug problem here in the States sure didn't go away when tougher sentencing was introduced almost 30 years ago.

 

[Nyati]

Good news, however, shooting poachers is not the solution. They are just the pawns of the game, working for peanuts, what needs to be done is to dismantle the whole organization.

 

[ScottG]

Arresting these two is a good start. The Africans ate being used. The people at the source are the ones who need to be deterred. Two Vietnamese sitting in a south African jail might help. Maybe a coulple of their cell mates are animal lovers and they give them some love. See guys the animals rights guys could be worth something.

 

[sestoppelman]

This will likely continue unless and until there is enough rhino horn to be legally harvested and sold on the open market. It is the only way to stop poaching, basically flood the market with legal products, and put the poachers out of business. Same would apply to ivory. Every time I see some jerk-off moron burn a pile of ivory I just about go around the bend! They should put all captured ivory on the open market and sell it legally!!! Its so STUPID to make these symbolic gestures as if burning a pile of ivory will make ivory LESS valuable?!?!?!?!?!? How stupid can they get?!?! If you want value of a product to come down, produce more of it. I barely graduated high school and even I can figure this out. Makes me sick this poaching business. But it makes me sicker to see the moronic approach to stopping it by some. Making something illegal just makes it more valuable and creates a black market which attracts stupid/crooked and or poor people to get into it just to try to make ends meet. As noted above, shooting low level poachers really isn't the answer, must be stopped at the top.

 

[bluey]

when we were in Africa , one of the blokes that owned one of the properties ,we visited , was talking about this problem , and made a lot of sense .
he claimed legalise the sale of rhino horn .
every farm would have a rhino on it , slice of the horn every 3 years ,so it can be regrown .
he also said if these dumbass , wankers that poach the bloody rhino , had more than 3 grams of brain matter , they would not only drug the poor bloody rhino to cut off the horn at a length that it would regrow
but gave the reversal drug to safely survive the animal . the morons could ,themselves come back and reproach the horn in a couple of years .....
he said a lot of poachers drug the animal , but not reversing the drug is what kills a lot of animals .
kinda makes sense , to me .........

 

[CAustin]

I was actually on a farm this April and saw the same thing where the owner had already cut the horns off his Rhinos to stop the poachers.

 

[bluey]

I was actually on a farm this April and saw the same thing where the owner had already cut the horns off his Rhinos to stop the poachers.

yup this guy has done the same thing , the mother of the little guy in my avatar is going to get the saw , as soon as she finish nursing ,him ......

 

[slad68]

Cutting the horn works well, but in some cases I have also heard of poachers even killing those Rhino as well, just for one reason; NOT TO TRACK THE SAME RHINO NEXT TIME AND WAIST TIME.

There is only one logic way to minimize/stop poaching, LEGALIZE THE TRADE IN RHINO HORN and FLOOD THE MARKET.

 

[slad68]

I just received devastating news that 2 of the 6 Rhinos on our new concession was killed by poachers over the weekend.

 

[bluey]

that's F!@#$%D
YOU NEED TO MAYBE KILL THESE , SUB HUMANS , BACK A LITTLE BIT ........
im sorry this happened