THAI Customs officials arrested a Vietnamese man on charges of smuggling five rhino horns weighing 6.86 kilogrammes and worth approximately 6.9 million baht at Suvarnabhumi Airport, TV Channel 7 said today (Sep. 7).
The unidentified Vietnamese suspect came from Luanda, Angola, with a scheduled flight change in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, and arrived at Suvarnabhumi Airport en route to Laos at approximately 7.45 p.m. last evening, with officials quickly arresting him.
The suspect’s characteristics matched a description of him that the officials had obtained and he was charged with violating the Customs Act B.E. 2560 (2017), the Wildlife Conservation and Protection Act B.E. 2562 (2019) and the Animals Act B.E. 2558 (2015).
Mr. Panthong Loikulnan, the Customs Department spokesperson, said Mr. Thirat Attanavanich, the department’s director-general, has implemented a policy to step up prevention and suppression of illegal wildlife and plant trafficking to protect Thailand’s and the world’s endangered species.
This effort utilises intelligence and passenger data analysis from advanced passenger screening and inspection systems leading to the arrest of this Vietnamese suspect.
The latest global rhino count from the International Rhino Foundation reveals a mixed picture for the world’s five rhino species, according to a report published by Euronews Green with AP last month.
The number of critically endangered black rhinos has increased slightly, but there is bad news for other rhino species, according to a global count released early August by the International Rhino Foundation.
The latest estimates show that black rhino numbers went up from 6,195 to 6,788. White rhinos had declined, however, from 15,942 to 15,752 since the last count in 2021. Black and white rhinos are only found in the wild in Africa.
The number of greater one-horned rhinos, found in northern India and Nepal, rose slightly from 4,014 to 4,075.
But Javan rhinos have declined from an estimated 76 to just 50, the foundation said, and that was entirely due to poaching. There is only one known population of Javan rhinos left, at a national park on the Indonesian island of Java.
The Sumatran rhino population stands at just 34-47 animals, around the same as previous estimates.
The global population of all rhinos is approximately 26,700.
Rhinos threatened by new trafficking routes
The International Rhino Foundation says it gets its figures from counts by specialist rhino groups at the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, the global authority on endangered species. It does not count rhinos in zoos, only those in the wild or in national parks.
The rhino foundation said there were worrying new trends from South Africa, which has more rhinos than anywhere else in the world. There, the average number of rhinos in individual populations was below what conservationists recommend to maintain a viable population.
It also said a new rhino horn trafficking route was emerging between South Africa and Mongolia, while Qatar was becoming a growing hub for horn trafficking.
Radical radioactive anti-poaching tactics
Rhino poaching is still a major problem in South Africa and elsewhere to feed the illegal market for rhino horn products in parts of Asia. South Africa loses between 400 and 500 rhinos a year to poaching.
It is often looking for new ways to deter poachers. One group of scientists launched a project recently to inject radioactive material into the horns of rhinos.
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Top and Front Page: Rhino horns seized at Suvarnabhumi Airport. Photo: TV Channel 7
Insert: A rhino in the wild. File photo: AP/ Brian Inganga and published by Euronews
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