Suspect goes missing after police confiscate suitcase with 10 kg of rhino horns
Mozambique police nabbed a suitcase containing more than 10 kilograms of rhino horns in Maputo International Airport on Saturday but the suspect managed to escape, reports Xinhua.
According to Maputo city police, Orlando Madumane, the horns were embarking from the airport to an unknown destination. The suitcase had no identity and no clue whatsoever to link it back to the owner.
“The owner of the suitcase ran away soon after realizing that the police had found out the content inside, now we are investigating to identify the owner of the product,” said Madumane.
Poaching and the process of getting it to the black market has become trickier, with the police admitting that it is hard to know how the smugglers successfully get the suitcases checked in and in this case managed to escape.
According to IOL, the seizure was highly embarrassing for the Mozambican authorities since electronic scanners that scan all luggage leaving the airport should have detected the 18 rhino horns.
The police say they are investigating how such a large shipment could have been loaded on to the Qatar Airways plane.
Malaysia recently nabbed 18 rhino horns flown in from Maputo in a security operation. Revealing how the rhino horns’ smuggling syndicate in the capital city of Mozambique has grown, rising concern for the endangered species including elephants in the country.
