Malaysian duo called to enter defence in country’s first rhino horn trial
A Malaysian court has ordered two local men to defend themselves against charges of illegally keeping 50 rhino horn pieces in the country’s first trial involving trafficked African rhino horns.
Judge Ahmad Fuad Othman in the Sepang Sessions Court today noted that by inference from the facts presented thus far, the two men facing charges in the case had full control of the vehicle carrying the rhino horns and were aware of what they were transporting.
He said there was no doubt in the prosecution’s case and that it had established prima facie – shown enough evidence – on both charges against the two accused under the Wildlife Conservation Act 2010.
The men are charged with illegally keeping 49 White Rhino Ceratotherium simum horn pieces and a single piece of horn from the Critically Endangered Black Rhino Diceros bicornis.
The case by the defence is scheduled for 13 and 14 August.
Mohamad Sukry Wahab and Muhammad Hafiszan Naser who were travelling in a lorry were stopped in September 2021 at a roundabout close to the Kuala Lumpur International Airport, Malaysia’s main international airport terminal. The 50 horns were found inside the vehicle during the bust by the Department of Wildlife and National Parks Peninsular Malaysia.
The duo claimed trial in April last year, a reversal of an earlier guilty plea, kickstarting the trial linked to one of Malaysia’s largest rhino horn seizures.
Today’s decision was delivered after the court heard arguments on a range of issues surrounding the definition of “keeping” in the charge, whether the accused had knowledge of what they had collected from a cargo area at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport and whether they were in control of the rhino horns from the point of collection to the point of seizure.
Southeast Asia has been at the center of wildlife trafficking routes over the past decades, particularly with regards to high-value commodities like rhino horn. TRAFFIC records show that between 2014 and 2023, at least 170 of the 1,413 rhino horn seizures worldwide implicated Southeast Asia, involving some 3,230kg of rhino horns seized.
Rhino horns have also been smuggled across Southeast Asia with other threatened and endangered species.
In July 2022, the Royal Malaysian customs seized 29kg of rhino horns packed amongst 6,000kg of ivory, 100 kg pangolin scales, tiger teeth, 14 kg animal horns & 300 kg animal bones & skulls seized at Port Klang.
In August 2018, authorities at the postal aviation centre in the Kuala Lumpur International Airport’s Free Commercial Zone found 50 pieces of rhino horns that were packed in boxes that also contained carnivore carcasses, bound for Ha Noi, Viet Nam.
