Thai Rhino Horn Trader Gets 40 Years In S. Africa Jail

[Baerboxer]

Welcome to justice the rest of the world style. One thing I can be absolutely sure of....no matter how much money he hs he WILL NOT be out on bail while he appeals his sentence, and there will be no annual Kings amnesty and reduction in time.

Actually S.A. you can buy justice much easier than Thailand. This case also involved a S.A. whose made millions allowing the Thais to hunt the Rhinos on his land but he was granted bail and then the charges against him dropped.

http://m.iol.co.za/a...w/s/11/a/322181

http://latimesblogs....years-jail.html

http://www.timeslive...-kingpin-guilty

Interesting how the rich always seem to get charges against them dropped. Seems the same all over the world - its what you've got, who your related too and who you know that counts. This moron should be serving the same 40 years - or more.

[Skorz]

A couple of years ago one of my Thai staff (male) received a small package at our office in Suratt. He and several of his co workers got really excited when the parcel arrived and rushed into the kitchen to open it. They tried to hide the contents from me (being a foreigner) but I insisted on knowing what all the fuss was about in case something dodgy was going on. It was indeed dodgy. Within the package was a finger nail sized sliver of rhino horn, wrapped in tissue, cling film and finally tinfoil. When I saw this little shrivelled baby's fingernail I knew exactly what it was without even having to ask. All three fell silent and looked at me expectantly to gauge my reaction. Judging by their childlike expressions (hand in the cookie jar) I made the call right there that there was absolutely zero point in even bothering to try and explain the whole conservation thing to them. We did discuss it lightly a few days later and their point was that it was only a tiny part of a rhino, they didn't kill it themselves and the rhinos live in Africa not Thailand so it doesn't matter; the usual Thai (and often my own) perspective applies heavily here on naughty things - it's good right now and there are no obvious consequences that will directly affect me or my friends and family in the short term. It will be fun. Do it. Do it now.

In reflection, the thing that astonished me most was not the fact that my staff had in their possession illegal rhino horn, but the fact that all three of them were university graduates from good backgrounds and yet they were all, totally and utterly convinced beyond a shadow of doubt that this little piece of chitin was going to turn them into super studs for the up and coming boys night out. They talked of big magic, voodoo, cannibals and darkest Afree-Ka!. It reminded me of a magic amulet that some dodgy monk has cooked up out of the ashes of his predecessors, advertised on the side of a minibus and sold on to destitute gambling addicts for tens of thousands of Bhat. Many will recall the recent article on 'bullet proof tattoos'. Magic. Big Magic.

I guess one of the great attractions to a Westerner to Thailand is the contrast in structural belief systems. Pretty much all Thais who visit a temple believe in voodoo and magic. Unfortunately for our horny friends, this includes cooking up rhino horn for hard ons. Any one of you with Thai friends and family doubt this? Ask them. They'll possibly feed you some bullshit line denying everything, but this is because they know that you, as a foreigner find the idea of rhino horn hard-on preposterous. A good acid test is if they believe in the medicinal properties of shark fin soup, betcha bottom dollar they believe in the magic properties of rhino horn and tiger dick. Importantly even though they believe in in this does not mean that they sanction the illegal poaching and torture or these animals. My wife no longer eats shark fin soup after watching a documentary on how they catch and butcher the sharks. She still unwaveringly believes that sharks fins cure colds however.

In summary wild Rhinos are doomed . The beliefs of many Asians will take generations of hard education to eradicate, indeed it is probably impossible to even attempt this - far longer than the Rhino (and tiger, and sun bear etc etc etc) will be around for.

[bangon04]

It's not just the ones who organize the hunts that should be punished,but the bastards who take part in it.These rich idiots who go out on hunting safaris just for the thrill of killing an elephant or rhino.Shoot them with their own guns.

As long as Chinese grandmothers keep telling their little boys that eating rhino horn will give them bigger and stronger dicks, then the rhinos will keep dying untile there are none left. There is no hope because there are already 1 million (dollar) millionaires in China desperate for big strong dicks....

[delgarcon]

I hope the guy gets his sentence reduced by appeal. 40 years is ridiculous and some of you bigots on here would be better off pointing the finger at the people wealthy enough to afford the rhino horns. Skortz has hit the nail on the head, the rhinos are doomed and locking Chumlong up for 40 years wont help anyone. Even child molesters, rapists and murderers rarely get 40 years!

[cbrer]

He should die a slow death with all nine rhino horns up where the sun don´t shine.

Well he's an Asian man in an over-crowded maximum security prison in a country where the prison population is 99% Black slum gangsters.

Rhino horns probably pale in comparison.

[annabel]

Welcome to justice the rest of the world style. One thing I can be absolutely sure of....no matter how much money he hs he WILL NOT be out on bail while he appeals his sentence, and there will be no annual Kings amnesty and reduction in time.

Actually S.A. you can buy justice much easier than Thailand. This case also involved a S.A. whose made millions allowing the Thais to hunt the Rhinos on his land but he was granted bail and then the charges against him dropped.

http://m.iol.co.za/a...w/s/11/a/322181

http://latimesblogs....years-jail.html

http://www.timeslive...-kingpin-guilty

exactly and everybody here believes this guy will do 40 years ....Pffff!! It's the same there as here in Thailand ... 6 months at most !! Pay...Pay ..Pay ! and out you go to freedom the rich can buy ... Red Bull story again but in a different country and a with a different animal ... Jezzz!!

[Thai at Heart]

I just don't get it.

A horn made if the same material as a toe nail.

barbaric.

[Nisa]

Welcome to justice the rest of the world style. One thing I can be absolutely sure of....no matter how much money he hs he WILL NOT be out on bail while he appeals his sentence, and there will be no annual Kings amnesty and reduction in time.

Actually S.A. you can buy justice much easier than Thailand. This case also involved a S.A. whose made millions allowing the Thais to hunt the Rhinos on his land but he was granted bail and then the charges against him dropped.

http://m.iol.co.za/a...w/s/11/a/322181

http://latimesblogs....years-jail.html

http://www.timeslive...-kingpin-guilty

Interesting how the rich always seem to get charges against them dropped. Seems the same all over the world - its what you've got, who your related too and who you know that counts. This moron should be serving the same 40 years - or more.

Agree with you. Money and power buys your own justice all over the world. Some places just more blatant than others.

Edited November 10, 2012 by Nisa

[hellodolly]

Not going to waste my time reading the article.

The head line was great news.

[uptheos]

It's in the British press today.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2230515/Thai-prostitutes-posed-big-game-hunters-elaborate-scam-illegally-ship-rhino-horns-Far-East.html

[DLock]

The "War on Rhino Horns" is a failure. Despite the millions spent by Governments, rhino horns are still easily available.

Why doesn't the Government make it available legally and tax it?

It would reduce the necessity for "rhino horn couriers" and organized street level dealers.

[TradeMark]

I hope the guy gets his sentence reduced by appeal. 40 years is ridiculous and some of you bigots on here would be better off pointing the finger at the people wealthy enough to afford the rhino horns. Skortz has hit the nail on the head, the rhinos are doomed and locking Chumlong up for 40 years wont help anyone. Even child molesters, rapists and murderers rarely get 40 years!

He was a major link in the chain and played a role in a crime against nature... An utterly disgusting and senseless crime that has the likelihood of ruining a vital part of the heritage of a country. It is equal to a murder of a human and why shouldn't it be viewed on that level? It's the wiping out of a species and the wasteful killing for material and holistic bullshit? Why is a rhino less important than a human to the face of this planet?

[TradeMark]

Welcome to justice the rest of the world style. One thing I can be absolutely sure of....no matter how much money he hs he WILL NOT be out on bail while he appeals his sentence, and there will be no annual Kings amnesty and reduction in time.

Actually S.A. you can buy justice much easier than Thailand. This case also involved a S.A. whose made millions allowing the Thais to hunt the Rhinos on his land but he was granted bail and then the charges against him dropped.

http://m.iol.co.za/a...w/s/11/a/322181

http://latimesblogs....years-jail.html

http://www.timeslive...-kingpin-guilty

exactly and everybody here believes this guy will do 40 years ....Pffff!! It's the same there as here in Thailand ... 6 months at most !! Pay...Pay ..Pay ! and out you go to freedom the rich can buy ... Red Bull story again but in a different country and a with a different animal ... Jezzz!!

South Africa has a strict enforcement of sentence policy on publicly notable crimes... In the case of a sentencing of a foreigner like this with the worldly pressures and internal pressures on the issue he will live out his sentence behind bars and he will die behind bars before that sentence is even close to coming to an end. That you can count on. The weakness in the South African system is actually getting them that sentence.... Getting through the police procedure, testimony, hearings, trials, whatever! Because that's when people get paid off in SA, before the final hammer is struck and excuses can be made.

In this guys case it is too late and he is the deserved victim of a public display as to how well their war on rhino poachers is going.