Nairobi, Sept 18 – Criminal networks of Chinese origin operating in South Africa are now processing rhino horn locally into beads, bracelets, bangles and powder to evade detection and provide ready-made products to consumers in Asia, mainly in Vietnam and China, the wildlife trade monitoring network, TRAFFIC said in a report released today.
The report, Pendants, Powder and Pathways—A rapid assessment of smuggling routes and techniques used in the illicit trade in African rhino horn, documents recent cases in which police have discovered small home-based workshops for processing rhino horn and have seized beads, bracelets and bags of rhino horn powder.
Prior to these cases, seizures have typically comprised whole horns, or ones simply cut into two or more pieces, TRAFFIC said in a press release.
“It is a growing problem,” Colonel Johan Jooste, national commander of the Endangered Species Section in South Africa’s Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (DPCI), told TRAFFIC researchers. “The syndicates no longer want to export whole horns. They have begun cutting them up into what they call ‘disks’ and large beads in line with demand on the market side and in order to avoid detection…”
More than 7,100 rhinos have been killed for their horns in Africa over the past decade. South Africa, home to 79 percent of Africa’s last remaining rhinos, is the centre of the storm, suffering 91 per cent of the continent’s known poaching losses in 2016. Facilitated by resilient, highly-adaptive criminal networks and endemic corruption in many countries along the illicit supply chain, demand for rhino horn is driven by consumers in Asia, with Viet Nam and China identified as the dominant end use markets.
Drawing on 456 seizures recorded by TRAFFIC between 2010 and June 2017, Pendants, Powder and Pathways presents a detailed overview of known smuggling routes from Africa to Asia and some of the myriad methods used by criminal networks to smuggle their contraband.
It is estimated that between 2010 and June 2017, at least 2,149 rhino horns, weighing more than five tonnes, were seized by law enforcement agencies globally.
This is a fraction of the estimated 37.04 tonnes of rhino horn obtained from the 6,661 rhinos officially reported to have been killed by poachers in Africa between 2010 and 2016 and doubtless entering illegal trade.
In most cases, rhino horn is smuggled by air. The report examines several airports in Africa and Asia that have emerged as key hotspots. At least two tonnes of rhino horn was seized at airports during the period under review, with approximately 24 per cent of cases recorded in TRAFFIC’s seizures database involving the simultaneous trafficking of other wildlife products, particularly ivory.
