Known rhinoceroso breeder between 6 arrested in South Afric

Six people, including a well -known Rhinocerero breeder, have been charged in South Africa in relation to an international rhinoceros Trafficking Network, after a seven -year investigation, officials announced on Tuesday.

The suspects are accused of smuggling 964 horns worth $ 14.1 million for illegal markets in southeast Asia. They face charges of fraud, theft and violation of a National Biodiversity Law, said the South African government.

Rhinos horns trade It is legal in South Africa among citizens, but local laws do not allow their export due to international prohibition.

The investigation carried out by the country’s specialized hawk police unit “is a powerful demonstration of South Africa resolution to protect its natural heritage,” said Forestry, Fisheries and Environment Minister Dion George in a statement. “Hawks’s work shows that our application agencies will not hesitate to persecute those who loot our wildlife to make criminal profits.”

Among the six suspects is John Humethe former owner of the largest rhino conservation farm. The 19,270 acres site of “Platinum Rhinos” in a northern province of South Africa was bought by the NGO of African parks in 2023 and houses around 2,000 animals, approximately 15% of the world’s wild population of white rhinoos in the south.

Hume, about 80 years old, and the other five appeared in a magistrates court in the capital of Pretoria and the bond was granted, said a Hawks spokesman for Agite France-Presse.

Hume, born in Zimbabwe, caused controversy in 2017 by organizing an online three -day horns auction that had accumulated when looking at them from the rhinos to avoid their murder by the poachers, although the sale attracted less buyers of the expected.

Once abundant in all sub -Saharan Africa, the number of rhinos fell dramatically due to hunting by European colonizers and large -scale poaching, with their very sought after horns in black markets, particularly in Asia, where the price per weight rivals gold and cocaine.

Together with the ivory, the horns are encoded as state symbols or used in traditional medicine for their supposed aphrodisiac properties.

The Save the Rhino organization praised the arrests on Tuesday.

“By interrupting transnational organized crime it is essential to stop poaching, allowing populations to recover and ensure that the rinos have a future in nature,” said the group’s CEO, Jo Shaw, in a statement.

• South Africa
• Rhinoceros