Feds cut off international rhino horn smuggling ring

Photo by Arno Meintjes via Flickr Creative Commons

20 rhino horns, diamonds, Rolex watches, approximately $1 million in cash, and $1 million in gold bars were seized from suspected smugglers last weekend when more than 150 federal agents led raids across several states in a coordinated effort to interrupt an international ring trafficking in sawed-off rhinoceros horns.

Deputy chief of law enforcement for the wildlife service, Edward Grace, said the arrests and seizures followed an 18-month investigation by federal wildlife agents. 

Three of the alleged smugglers caught in Southern California were 49-year-old Jimmy Kha, his 41-year-old girlfriend Mai Nguyen, and Kha's 26-year-old son Felix, the L.A. Times reports. The suspects -- arrested last week at Los Angeles International Airport -- face four counts each of rhino horn trafficking in violation of federal laws protecting rare and endangered species. 

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