26kg of rhino horn destined for Singapore found in hand luggage

Gauteng police arrested a 42-year-old man and seized a number of rhino horns weighing 26kg at OR Tambo International Airport on Thursday afternoon.

“About 12:36 on Thursday afternoon, a security official at the airport alerted police to suspicious-looking items in hand luggage that had been carried by a man destined for Singapore,” police spokesperson Col Athlenda Mathe said.

She said upon further investigation and interrogation of the suspect, police found the rhino horns.  

Two cellphones found in the possession of the suspect were confiscated.

The man will appear before the Kempton Park magistrate's court on Monday to face a  charge of contravening the Biodiversity Act,  which prohibits illegal trade in rhino horn.

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