Assets totaling approximately R55 million (US $6.8 million) belonging to rhino horn syndicate suspects Dawie Groenewald, Karel Toet and Manie du Plessis have been seized in a raid conducted by a joint team of the Hawks, SAPS, SANDF, the NPA, the Asset Forfieture Unit, and Department of Environmental affairs.
According to the latest news released by South Africa’s Department of Environmental Affairs, the country’s rhino death toll has risen to 210 since the beginning of the year.
While traditional Chinese “cure-alls” sometimes include endangered species such as rhinos, tigers, and pangolins, the Eastern folk medicine craze has recently become even creepier, as South Korean customs officials have found it necessary to crack down on traffickers of “Chinese-made capsules made from dead human babies”.