Hong Kong Morening Post reported first – Hong Kong customs seized HK$16.5 million (US$2.1 million) worth of rhino horns in transshipment cargo at the airport on Friday, marking a record haul of products related to the endangered species.
The smuggled items from South Africa were declared as vehicle parts destined for Malaysia. X-ray images of the cargo had raised suspicions and officers acted on a tip-off.
Authorities found 82.5kg of suspected rhino horns and body parts in the consignment.
No arrests were made, and a senior customs source said they believed no local offenders were involved in the case.
According to the source, authorities have been monitoring smuggling trends with rhino horn being sought after in China and Southeast Asia for its perceived medicinal properties.
“South Africa is home to most of the world’s rhino population and therefore, is a common source of smuggled rhino horns,” the source said.
Seizures of wildlife products have been on the rise last year and totalled 270 tonnes, a threefold increase in quantity from the year before.
On Valentine’s Day this year, customs seized HK$8 million in rhino horns on two passengers at the airport. Both men were arrested after arriving from Johannesburg, South Africa and found to be carrying 40kg of wildlife products in two check-in boxes.
The pair were in transit to Ho Chi Minh in Vietnam.
Asked if smugglers were using Hong Kong as a trafficking hub, the source said syndicates could be capitalising on the city’s busy and extensive air routes to move their illicit wildlife products.
The two cases in February were handed over to the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department for follow-up action.
In January, authorities landed the city’s biggest ever seizure of pangolin scales after more than HK$62 million worth of such products, including elephant tusks, were discovered in a shipping container from Africa.
The haul included more than 8.2 tonnes of scales believed to have come from thousands of endangered pangolins, with an estimated street value of HK$42 million.
In all, the city recorded 745 cases of endangered species smuggling last year – a surge of 72 per cent compared with 2017 – and 528 arrests.
Under the Protection of Endangered Species of Animals and Plants Ordinance, any person found guilty of importing or exporting an endangered species without a licence can be jailed for up to 10 years and fined a maximum of HK$10 million.
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