The South Africa – Viet Nam Rhino Horn Trade Nexus (PDF ... - WWF

situation at the source: south africa
Date Location/Museum No. horns Comments
Aug 09 Museum, Kenya Unknown Museum heist of 58 natural and ethnographic
materials
Oct 09 Albany Check Casher, New York, USA 2 Black Rhino. Robbery, bottom jaw recovered, horns
still missing
Dec 10 Alwetter Zoo, Germany 1 Robbery
Feb 11 Sworder’s Auctioneers, UK 2 Black Rhino mounted head
Mar 11 Museum of Natural History, France 1 Robbery
Apri 11 Museum of Natural History, Portugal 2 Robbery
May 11 Haslemere Educational Museum, UK 2 Break-in, approximately 02:00 am
Jun 11 Liège Natural History Museum, Belgium 0 Attempted theft, theives apprehended by police
Jun 11 Natural History Museum, Germany 1 White Rhino horn
Jun 11 Gifhirn Museum of Hunting, Germany 2 Daylight robbery
Jun 11 La Specola Museum, Italy 3 Break-in. Curator estimated horn length at 30.5 cm
Jun 11 Oerrel, Germany 1 Robbery
Jun 11 Hamburg, Germany 6 Entire upper jaw of a rhino with two horns
attached and an additional four horns
Jul 11 Bamberger Nature Museum, Germany 1 Break-in, actual date unknown
Jul 11 Museum of Africa, Belguim 0 Attempted theft
Jul 11 Brussels Natural History Museum, Belgium 2 Thieves snuck in during daytime, removed horn,
dropped it onto a waiting vehicle from a window
Jul 11 Castle, Czech Republic 3 During night tour
Jul 11 Natural History Museum, France 2 Break-in
Jul 11 Museum of Natural History, Sweden 1 Reportedly thieves took time to saw off the horn in
the museum
Jul 11 Musée Africaine de l’lle d’Aix, France 1 A 02:30 am break-in
Aug 11 Ipswich Museum, UK 1 Break-in
Aug 11 Africa Museum, Belgium 2 Robbery
Aug 11 Museum, Belgium 2 Robbery
Aug 11 Natural History Museum, Netherlands 2 Robbery
Aug 11 Tring Natural History Museum, UK 2 False horns
Aug 11 Natural History Museum, UK Unknown Robbery
Aug 11 Drusillas Zoo, UK 1 Black Rhino. Daylight robbery, taken from a locked
cabinet
Nov 11 Dorotheum Auctioneers, Austria 1 Daylight robbery by two English-speaking men
Nov 11 Margarethen Taxidermist, Austria 1 Daylight robbery by two English-speaking men
Dec 11 Museum of Hunting and Nature, France 1 Security guards knocked out with stun guns
Total 46
Table 7 Reported thefts of rhino horn from international museums and educational institutions (data from Law
and Policy Programme, EWT)
another 18 horns in one robbery. These thefts clearly represent premeditated actions that probably
involved prior surveillance activities and were generally executed through criminal break-ins.
The attempted armed robbery of rhino horn stocks from the government store within Addo National
Park in Eastern Cape province in June 2009 signalled a further escalation in tactics and modus operandi
of illegal horn traders. Given the high levels of security associated with these stocks, many believe that
an element of insider knowledge is involved, providing information on access to potential thieves.
Even more worryingly, government officials tasked with providing permits for rhino horn possession
have been linked to subsequent horn thefts. An armed robbery at Thaba Manzi lodge in Bela Bela,
A rhino horn was stolen from this display in Museum of Hunting and Nature, Paris in December 2011.
Limpopo, in October 2010, which included the theft of seven rhino horns from a safe, is alleged to
have been connected to the provincial department that had recently been informed of the location of
the horns for permitting purposes (Anon, 2010g).
International criminal syndicates have also targeted rhino horns in museums and educational institutions,
particularly in Europe and the U.K., resulting in the theft of at least 46 horns (Table 7). Many of
these thefts are believed to be linked to the “Rathkeale Rovers”, an Irish criminal syndicate reportedly
involved in other crime, including tarmac fraud, the distribution of counterfeit goods, organized robbery,
money laundering and drug trafficking. This group actively sourced rhino horns from antique
dealers, auction houses, art galleries, museums, private collections and zoos throughout Europe
(O’Keefe and Sheridan, 2012).
The TRAFFIC/IUCN report to CITES CoP15 conservatively estimated that, from 2006 through 2009,
more than 200 rhino horns illegally entered trade in Asia from privately-owned stocks (Milliken et al.,
2009b), but this figure appears to be an under-estimation by a considerable margin. Overall, it is now
suspected that at least several hundreds of horns have been illegally sold from private rhino horn collections
throughout the country, and this trafficking has been augmented by other horns deriving from
a series of rhino horn thefts that have grown increasingly frequent since 2005.
66 the south africa – viet nam rhino horn trade nexus TRAFFIC 67
PETER LINDSEy