South Africa jails Thai rhino horn trader to 40 years in prison

Surging demand for rhino horns in Asian traditional medicine has spawned a vast criminal trade in South Africa.

A THAI national who pleaded guilty to organising bogus trophy hunts to sell rhino horns on the international black market has been sentenced to 40 years in a South African jail, in what is being hailed as a landmark ruling.

A record number of unnatural rhino deaths are reported this year.

Chumlong Lemtongthai had admitted to paying prostitutes to pose as hunters, in order to harvest horns which were then sold on Asia's lucrative traditional medicine market.

The group is thought to have netted around 26 rhino horns.

South Africa is home to around 80 per cent of the world's rhinos. The population forms a linchpin of the country's famed "Big Five" biodiversity and of its lucrative safari industry.

There are more than 18,000 white rhinos in the country and around 1,600 critically endangered black rhinos.

But a dizzying spike in rhino killings has put the future of the animals in doubt.

South African officials say 528 rhinos have been killed already this year, shattering previous annual records.

Most of the rhinos are killed in the world-famous Kruger National Park and their horns turn up in Vietnam, China and other east Asian nations.

The animals' distinctive horns are used to produce a fingernail-like substance that is falsely believed to have powerful healing properties.