Feds Crack Down On Rhino Horn Smuggling Ring
LOS ANGELES (CBS/AP) — Federal wildlife investigators say they've broken up an international smuggling ring that trafficked in sawed-off rhinoceros horns for buyers in Vietnam and China who believe they cure cancer.
KNX 1070's Mike Landa reports more than 150 federal agents led raids into homes and businesses in a dozen states over the weekend.
Podcast
Three of the alleged traffickers caught in Southern California were 49-year-old Jimmy Kha, his 41-year-old girlfriend Mai Nguyen and Kha's 26-year-old son Felix.
Ed Grace of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said the horns are being exported to Asia, where some believe they can be used as a miracle cure.
"There are no medicinal benefits," said Grace. "The rhino horn powder, which is usually mixed into a tea, cannot cure cance," said Grace.
Director Dan Ashe says officials have shut down a major source of black market rhino horns in the lucrative international trade.
Officials also seized more than $1 million in cash, $1 million in gold bars, diamonds, Rolex watches and 20 rhino horns in the raids.
(TM and © Copyright 2012 CBS Local Media, a division of CBS Radio Inc. and its relevant subsidiaries. CBS RADIO and EYE Logo TM and Copyright 2011 CBS Broadcasting Inc. Used under license. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
