Johannesburg - Vietnamese diplomats have been implicated in the illegal export of rhinoceros horns out of South Africa by a South African news programme. Monday night news show 50/50 broadcast footage taken with hidden cameras of transactions taking place right in front of the Vietnamese embassy in Pretoria. The show is broadcast by SABC.
Neither the Vietnamese embassy nor the South African Foreign Ministry chose to comment on the report.
The broadcast cited multiple animal rights activists who say that South Africa's wild rhinoceros population is declining perilously. This year alone, poachers killed 30 of the animals in the Kruger National Park, 12 in KwaZulu-Natal province and another five in Limpopo province.
According to the report, the poachers have grown more organized. It also reported on legal loopholes that have made the export of rhinoceros horn possible.
The horns can command a high price in Asia, where they are considered to be an aphrodisiac.
