A Vietnamese woman and a man were detained at Tan Son Nhat international airport in Ho Chi Minh City after their luggage bags were found to have hidden five kilograms of rhino horns worth nearly USD 270,000, Xinhua reports.
Nguyen Thi Thao from central Phu Yen province, and Phung Anh Quan from northern Vinh Phuc province, on Friday night flew to Vietnam from Africa, the Ho Chi Minh City Customs Department said on Sunday, adding that the horns were cut into pieces and hidden in different items in their luggage bags, the report says.
The horns were from a very rare species of African two-horned rhino, and could be sold at over 6 billion Vietnamese dong (269,000 U.S. dollars) on the black market.
Thao said she found the horns to be pretty thus decided to take them home. She added that she didn’t know she had broken the law.
