Sawt Falasteen - Man arrested in Thailand for smuggling rhino horn inside meat

The 36-year-old Vietnamese man was detained on Monday after landing at Bangkok's main international airport on suspicion of illegal wildlife imports, the Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation said in a statement.

He was travelling from Lubumbashi in the Democratic Republic of Congo to Laos, transiting through Ethiopia and Thailand, according to the department.

Airport authorities and police seized six pieces of rhinoceros horn and around 12 kilograms of unidentified meat used to conceal them inside a polystyrene icebox.

"There were some irregularities in the X-ray scan of the checked luggage so the authorities checked it," the department said.

Sadudee Panpakdee, director of the department's CITES division, told AFP officials were unsure of the value of the seized horns or what type of meat was used to conceal them.

The items were sent to a wildlife forensic laboratory for examination, officials said.

If convicted, the suspect faces up to 10 years in prison and a fine up to one million baht ($32,000).

All five rhino species are protected under international law and trade in their horns is banned.

Thailand is a major transit hub for wildlife smugglers who often sell highly prized endangered creatures on the lucrative black market in Asia.

J.Saleh--SF-PST