During October 2011 a container allegedly containing waste, parings and scrap of plastic was cleared at the Import- and Export customs office of the South African Revenue Services in Alberton, Johannesburg, to be shipped to Hong Kong. On 15 November 2011 Hong Kong customs officials seized a container of thirty three (33) rhinoceros horns, seven hundred and fifty eight (758) ivory chopsticks and one hundred and twenty seven (127) ivory bracelets which was shipped from the Cape Town harbour in South Africa.
An investigation by the Endangered Species Section of the Hawks was launched and a case docket registered The Hawks presented the case docket to the National Prosecuting Authority. Based on this information and the fact that both South-Africa and China are parties to CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora), the Director of Public Prosecutions, South Gauteng, applied to The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People’s Republic of China for mutual legal assistance.
The request inter alia included that evidentiary material be produced by Hong Kong and that a South-African delegation visit Hong Kong in order to have the rhino horns and ivory items returned to South Africa for further investigation.
The return of such items is the first request of its kind and took place in terms of an agreement between the Government of the Republic of South Africa and the Government of The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People’s Republic of China for mutual legal assistance, which was signed on 20 February 2009. The mutual commitment by both countries to fight the illegal exploitation of wildlife crime was evident during the execution of the mutual investigation and strengthened the ties between the two countries.
The South African delegation comprising of representatives from the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigations (The Hawks), the National Prosecuting Authority, the Forensic Science Laboratory of the South African Police Service and the Department of Environmental Affairs respectively, has now successfully returned to South-Africa with the evidentiary material as well as the rhino horns and ivory items.
The forensic investigation in Hong Kong by the South-African forensic expert revealed that the 33 rhino horns weighed 79,9 kg and have a conservative estimated black market value of R23 800 000 million. The seven hundred and fifty eight (758) ivory chopsticks and one hundred and twenty seven (127) ivory bracelets weighed 22.2 kg and have a conservative estimated black market value of R100 000, 00.
The forensic evaluation of the rhino horns indicated that not only large adult rhinos fell victim to the illegal exportation of these horns but also very young juvenile/sub-adult rhinos. It was further established that some of these horns were harvested from rhino that had previously been dehorned. The investigation further revealed that all the horns were cut at the growth point of the horns, suggesting that the horns were obtained from rhino that had been killed.
The ivory bracelets and chop sticks that were part of the consignment all had similar dimensions indicating that these items were manufactured in the same facility. This fact further suggests that these items were mass produced, most probably utilising sophisticated machinery. The large number of ivory items is evidence that multiple elephants were killed to produce enough ivory to manufacture all these items.
The return of these items to South Africa will now enable the Hawks to investigate the matter further and to determine the origin of these items by means of inter alia DNA analysis, which would possibly lead to the arrests of suspects and criminal prosecution.
