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Feds bust rhino horn traffickers


Rhino that has had its horn removed to protect it from poachers.


Federal agents from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) arrested seven people on charges of trafficking endangered rhino horn in the United States, reports the Department of Justice and Department of the Interior. The arrests were made in Los Angeles, Newark, and New York.



According to authorities, the trafficking ring was overseen by Jin Zhao Feng, a Chinese national, who orchestrated the shipment of “at least dozens” of rhino horns from the United States to China. Feng was arrested last night.



The FWS described the operations in a statement:

A search of one of the defendant’s luggage at the Long Beach Airport turned up $337,000 in cash, according to the FWS. Subsequent searches found rhinoceros horns, diamonds, Rolex watches, $1 million in cash, and $1 million in gold.



The alleged traffickers face a range of fines and jail time — up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine for conspiracy; five years in prison and a $250,000 fine for Lacey Act violations; and up to one year in prison and a $100,000 fine for violations of the Endangered Species Act — if convicted.



Several rhino species are critically endangered due to poaching for their horn, which is believed to have medicinal value in traditional Chinese medicine.



“Rhino horn traffickers continue to fuel the illegal demand for horn, demand that has led to hundreds of rhino deaths and put the white and black rhino in danger of extinction in the wild,” said U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Director Dan Ashe. “These arrests have dealt a serious blow to rhino horn smuggling, but represent only the beginning of a significant crackdown on this illegal trade.”



The prosecution is being handled by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of New Jersey, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York and the Environmental Crimes Section of the U.S. Department of Justice’s Environment and Natural Resources Division, with assistance from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Missouri.







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