Dec 13 2011 8:09AM

Couple bust with rhino horns at OR Tambo

Kim Helfrich

Proof that the fight against rhino poaching is not confined to the country’s game reserves and farms comes with the arrest of two Vietnamese nationals at the country’s busiest port of entry and departure.

The law enforcement arm of the Gauteng department of agriculture and rural development – its Green Scorpions – were alerted by x-ray scanner operators at OR Tambo International Airport of a possible rhino horn find in luggage at the weekend.

Accompanied by members of the SA Police Services’ Germiston-based organised crime unit, the environmental law enforcement officers arrested a Vietnamese man and woman following inspection of the suspicious luggage.

The human eye confirmed what the x-ray scanners indicated. The case contained two rhino horns (one front and one back, not necessarily from the same animal), five elephant tusks, 20 ivory chopsticks, 31 ivory bangles, 18 ivory blocks and three ivory earrings.

The pair have been charged with illegal possession of ivory and rhino horn under the National Environmental Biodiversity Management Act and are expected to appear in court this week.

In August Vietnamese national Duc Manh Chu was sentenced to 12 years in jail without the option of a fine after he was caught with 20 rhino horns at OR Tambo. An accomplice, Phi Hung Nguyeng, was also found guilty and sentenced to eight years, also without the option of a fine.

kimh@thenewage.co.za