South Africa: Rhino Horn Consignment Enroute to China Found At or Tambo Airport

Media Statement

Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation

(HAWKS)

GAUTENG – A 46-year-old suspect is expected to appear at the Kempton Park Court on Tuesday 28 December 2021 for contravention of the National Environmental Management Biodiversity Act 10 of 2004 (NEMBA).

This follows information received from the cargo section at the Oliver Regional Tambo (OR Tambo) International Airport on Thursday 23 December 2021 about a parcel destined for Shandong province in China. The parcel was allegedly declared as Ferrero and Cadbury chocolates.

Members of the Hawks Serious Organised Crime Investigation team as well as officials from the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment were summoned to the crime scene when the security officer operating scanners at the airport alerted the relevant authorities upon detecting a suspicious parcel.

Upon examining the parcel, the team found six pieces of Rhino horns inside two chocolates boxes of lunch bar.

A thorough investigation by the Hawks let to the arrest of the suspect and an undisclosed amount of money was found hidden under the driver seat of his vehicle.