US court sentences Malaysian to 18 months' jail for trafficking over 200kg of rhino horns

PETALING JAYA: Malaysian wildlife smuggler Teo Boon Ching has been sentenced to 18 months' jail in the United States for trafficking hundreds of kilograms of rhinoceros horns worth millions of dollars.

The sentence was imposed by US district judge Paul A. Crotty on Tuesday (Sept 19).

The 58-year-old accused had earlier pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wildlife trafficking.

Teo, who was extradited from Thailand to the United States in 2018, is the sixth large-scale wildlife trafficker sentenced in cases recently brought to the office, said US Attorney for the Southern District of New York Damian Williams in a statement on Tuesday.

According to the charge sheet and other documents filed in the case as well as statements made in court proceedings, Teo, also known as "Zhang", "Dato Sri" or "Godfather", was a member of a transnational criminal conspiracy engaged in the large-scale international trafficking and smuggling of rhinoceros horns to sell to foreign buyers, including buyers in Manhattan, New York.

The statement said Teo conspired to transport, distribute, sell and smuggle at least around 219kg of rhinoceros horns resulting from the poaching of numerous rhinoceros and with an estimated value of at least US$2.1mil (RM9.84mil).

It said that Teo had previously stated that he served as a "middleman" and acquired rhinoceros horns poached by co-conspirators in Africa and shipped them to customers around the world for a per-kilogramme fee.

He was also said to have promised the confidential source: "As long as you have cash, I can give you the goods in one-two days."

During their communications, Teo sent the confidential source numerous photographs of rhinoceros horns.

The confidential source, at the direction of law enforcement, purchased 12 rhinoceros horns from Teo with money believed to be the proceeds of other illegal wildlife trafficking and was in bank accounts in New York.

"These horns were delivered in a suitcase in Thailand by those working for the wildlife trafficking organisation," said the statement.

Service forensics laboratory later examined the rhinoceros horns and concluded that two horn pieces were those from the black rhinoceros, and the other 10 pieces were of white rhinoceros horns.