A London man has been arrested in Germany over rhino horns worth £50,000 that were stolen from museums.
They were to be sold to practitioners of Chinese herbal medicine, who claim they are aphrodisiacs.
The man, who has not been named, lives in north London, and is one of three Britons who were stopped by Munich police in a car stolen in Britain last month He is thought to be linked to a Dublin crime gang.
“The person who is strongly under suspicion is accused of having been involved in the theft of the horns in February in the German city of Offenburg,” said police.
They added that two people distracted staff at the Offenburg museum while another two climbed on a display case and removed a rhino head from a wall to smash off the horn with hammers. Museums across Europe have recently been targeted by the rhino horn thieves as numbers of the animals diminish in the wild. There are now fewer than 30,000 in the world.
The World Society for the Protection of Animals said it is to sponsor Scotland Yard’s wildlife crime unit with £100,000 a year to help the battle against the trade in endangered species.
Europol, the criminal intelligence agency, says thefts of rhinoceros horns have increased sharply. There have been 56 successful and 10 attempted thefts from museums and private collections in 15 countries since last year, with many believed to be linked to “an Irish and ethnically Irish organised criminal group, who are known to use intimidation and violence”.
Scientists say the horn, which is ingested in powdered form, has no medical benefit. “You’d get the same effect by chewing your fingernails,” said Nigel Monaghan, keeper of the National Museum of Ireland.
