Prison sentence for smuggling rhino horns into Hong Kong.
A traveller who smuggled 16 kilograms of rhino horn from South Africa to Hong Kong was sentenced by the District Court to 24 months’ imprisonment.
The 34 year old female arrived in Hong Kong on 19 October last year, from Johannesburg, South Africa and was found with rhino horns in her baggage. Subsequent to follow up investigations, the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department (AFCD) charged the woman with the illegal import of listed species in Appendix I to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), contrary to the Protection of Endangered Species of Animals and Plants Ordinance, Cap 586.
The District Court adopted a starting point of 36 months’ imprisonment, but allowed a one-third discount for her plea of guilty, and imposed a final sentence of 24 months’ imprisonment.
In 2018, an eight month prison sentence was imposed on a defendant who smuggled more than 3.1kg of rhino horn into Hong Kong, with an estimated market value of HK$824,800. In the same year, businessman who brought 6kg of rhino horn and ivory into Hong Kong had his jail sentence doubled to four months after a sentence review by prosecutors.
Rhinos are listed in Appendix I to CITES, and any person importing, exporting or possessing specimen of endangered species will be liable to a maximum fine of HK$10 million and imprisonment for 10 years.
It is imperative that the Courts in Hong Kong impose strict and punitive sentences for offenders who continue bring protected species into Hong Kong. There needs to be deterrence instilled in the many transnational organised crime syndicates that continue to poach and kill endangered animals, driving them ever closer to the point of extinction.
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Main source: AFCD