burglars hunt down rhinos in museums
Last Updated : GMT 09:03:51
Almaghrib Today, almaghrib today
Almaghrib Today, almaghrib today
Last Updated : GMT 09:03:51
Almaghrib Today, almaghrib today

Burglars hunt down rhinos in museums

Almaghrib Today, almaghrib today

Almaghrib Today, almaghrib today Burglars hunt down rhinos in museums

Bruussels - AFP

The natural science museum in Brussels has become the latest victim in a series of burglaries carried out by a gang police belief is profiting from a small, but lucrative, niche market for rhino horns. The two thieves snuck into the rhino gallery and ripped a stuffed head off the wall. They carried it to a restroom, opened a window, and dropped the 30-kilo (66-pound) trophy two stories down to an accomplice waiting in a van. "For 80 years we took care of it and from one day to the next it's no longer there," said Georges Lenglet, vertebrate exhibit curator at the Brussels museum, who has little hope of seeing the head again. The museum had never been robbed until the July heist, when it became the latest of a rising number of science museums in Europe targeted by thieves for rhino horns, which can fetch tens of thousands of euros on the black market. "It's a nasty little piece of criminal activity," Patrick Byrne, head of the organised crime networks unit at the European police agency Europol, told AFP. Europol suspects an Irish organised crime group is behind a spate of robberies that has hit not only museums but also zoos, auction houses, antique dealers and private collectors across the continent over the past 18 months. The gang, known to use violence and intimidation, is involved in drug trafficking, money laundering and smuggling of counterfeit products, but has seized too on a lucrative niche market in the sale of rhino horns. Scotland Yard says the spike in museum thefts is driven by a significant increase in the value of rhino horns in Asia. Depending on its size, a horn can sell for 25,000 to 200,000 euros (34,000 to 288,000 dollars), according to Europol. The horns are usually ground into powder and end up in the Asian market where they are prized for purported medicinal virtues to cure fevers, headaches, typhoid and smallpox. Their use for impotence is merely a myth. The emergence of museum horn thefts coincides with an alarming surge in poaching of live rhinos in Africa. More than 200 rhinos have been killed so far in 2011, after 333 were slaughtered in 2010, up from 122 in 2009, 83 in 2008, 13 in 2007, according to Save the Rhino International, a London-based conservation group. Lucy Boddam-Whetham, Save the Rhino's acting director, fears the robberies will only exacerbate the illegal trade. "It's stimulating more demand and stimulating the market, not taking pressure away from live rhinos," she told AFP. Robberies have been reported by museums in Portugal, France, Germany, Britain, the Czech Republic and as far north as Sweden. According to Scotland Yard, 20 thefts have taken place across Europe in just the past six months. They have prompted curators to beef up security systems or even remove rhinos from display. The Brussels Royal Institute for Natural Sciences Museum did both after the black rhino head, which dated from 1827, was stolen just three weeks after a similar heist failed in the Belgian southern city of Liege. "It's quite sad," said white-haired, bespectacled Lenglet in front of a display window now featuring two whole rhinos instead of three, and one head rather than two, after the museum locked away its most precious specimens. The gang had clearly done its homework. While one man distracted the guard by asking for information, two others picked the lock to the display door. By using the restroom window, the gang found a quick way to get the piece out without going through the front door. The suspect Irish gang has used both crude "smash and grab" techniques and violence to snatch rhino heads, or more sophisticated burglaries based on meticulous surveillance and reconnaissance work, Europol's Byrne said. "These people are indiscriminate in their criminal methods," he said. The rhino heads are quickly sold on the black market, and the gang launders the cash by purchasing real estate or other assets such as high-powered cars. Museums are not the only places that have raised their guard. Earlier this year, Britain widened a ban on the sale of rhino trophies, removing the right to sell those that dated before 1947, after an unusual increase in their price at auction houses in Europe. Even taxidermists are on the lookout for suspicious activities. The European Taxidermy Federation (ETF) sent out a letter to its members in early July warning them that Danish and Swedish taxidermists had been contacted by suspicious buyers claiming to be from Ireland or Britain. The callers never say who they are and call from unregistered mobile phones, the federation's president, Vagn Reitz, wrote in the July 7 letter. "All this stinks of illegal activity," Reitz wrote, "so it is a very good idea not to get involved if you are not 100 percent sure the trade is legal."

almaghribtoday
almaghribtoday

Name *

E-mail *

Comment Title*

Comment *

: Characters Left

Mandatory *

Terms of use

Publishing Terms: Not to offend the author, or to persons or sanctities or attacking religions or divine self. And stay away from sectarian and racial incitement and insults.

I agree with the Terms of Use

Security Code*

burglars hunt down rhinos in museums burglars hunt down rhinos in museums

 



Name *

E-mail *

Comment Title*

Comment *

: Characters Left

Mandatory *

Terms of use

Publishing Terms: Not to offend the author, or to persons or sanctities or attacking religions or divine self. And stay away from sectarian and racial incitement and insults.

I agree with the Terms of Use

Security Code*

burglars hunt down rhinos in museums burglars hunt down rhinos in museums

 



Almaghrib Today, almaghrib today Skincare PR Performance Full Year 2017

GMT 09:22 2018 Monday ,22 January

Skincare PR Performance Full Year 2017
Almaghrib Today, almaghrib today New hunt for flight MH370 gets under way

GMT 11:03 2018 Wednesday ,24 January

New hunt for flight MH370 gets under way
Almaghrib Today, almaghrib today Modern colorful bedroom renovation

GMT 10:57 2017 Thursday ,21 December

Modern colorful bedroom renovation
Almaghrib Today, almaghrib today Puigdemont candidate for Catalan president

GMT 13:56 2018 Tuesday ,23 January

Puigdemont candidate for Catalan president
Almaghrib Today, almaghrib today Turkey detains dozens more

GMT 10:47 2018 Wednesday ,24 January

Turkey detains dozens more

GMT 12:48 2011 Monday ,04 July

Gilbert favourite for win number 2 on Tour

GMT 08:12 2017 Wednesday ,15 February

UAE, Pakistan can benefit from CPEC, says envoy

GMT 09:07 2016 Friday ,19 August

Gawker.com to shut down next week

GMT 03:39 2012 Saturday ,04 August

Shyamalan, Noxon team up for Syfy pilot

GMT 20:13 2012 Friday ,21 December

We need a new cabinet to solve the crisis

GMT 10:01 2014 Thursday ,31 July

Kirstie Alley's TV Land series canceled

GMT 08:15 2016 Thursday ,29 December

Why Don’t We Conserve Water?

GMT 10:58 2011 Sunday ,17 July

IMF urges Europe to bolster lenders

GMT 18:21 2011 Wednesday ,29 June

Zarkana\': Cirque du Soleil debuts new gamble in NY

GMT 11:24 2013 Wednesday ,24 July

Living room interior decoration ideas

GMT 08:35 2012 Thursday ,24 May

Ancient jewellery found in Israel

GMT 14:32 2011 Friday ,16 September

The Fat Years

GMT 11:32 2015 Tuesday ,06 January

Why are there spots on my apple?
Almaghrib Today, almaghrib today
 
 Almaghrib Today Facebook,almaghrib today facebook  Almaghrib Today Twitter,almaghrib today twitter Almaghrib Today Rss,almaghrib today rss  Almaghrib Today Youtube,almaghrib today youtube  Almaghrib Today Youtube,almaghrib today youtube

Maintained and developed by Arabs Today Group SAL.
All rights reserved to Arab Today Media Group 2021 ©

Maintained and developed by Arabs Today Group SAL.
All rights reserved to Arab Today Media Group 2021 ©

.almaghribtoday .almaghribtoday .almaghribtoday .almaghribtoday
almaghribtoday almaghribtoday almaghribtoday
almaghribtoday
بناية النخيل - رأس النبع _ خلف السفارة الفرنسية _بيروت - لبنان
almaghribtoday, Almaghribtoday, Almaghribtoday