Chinese national found guilty of illegally dealing in rhino horns
A case against a foreign national has been remanded to February 10 for sentencing.
Shiuhau Chen, a Chinese national, was found guilty on three counts of illegally dealing in rhino horns and contravening the Immigration Act in the Kempton Park Regional Court on Friday January 20.
According to the provincial spokesperson for the Hawks, Captain Dineo Sekgotodi, Chen, along with Eugene Huang and his life partner, Ping Wu, was arrested in August 2019 by the Middelburg-based Hawks Serious Organised Crime Investigation Team.
ALSO READ: SANParks welcomes rhino poacher’s jail sentence
Sekgotodi said it occurred during a project-driven probe addressing the rhino horn syndicate operating between Mpumalanga and Gauteng.
ALSO READ: Two men get six years behind bars for attempted poaching in KNP
“The convict and his accomplices paid for rhino horns during controlled purchases between 2018 and 2019. Wu and Huang were charged with money laundering for their involvement. Wu assisted in depositing the proceeds of the rhino horn transaction into a casino account. She was sentenced by the Tembisa Regional Court in March 2022, while Huang died in prison during the trial.
“A forfeiture order for the money paid to the agent, as well as the money in the casino account and two vehicles owned by the accused deceased Huang and Chen, was issued in March 2022. The case against Chen was remanded to February 10 for sentencing.”
