This is the biggest theft ever in the country of rhino poaching.
“It’s the first time there has been a break in at our premises, it was obviously well planned,” the parks’ spokeswoman Kholofelo Nkambule said.
Elephant ivory, rifles and ammunition, which were in the same safe, were left untouched, says Nkambule
Unknown number of thieves on Monday broke into and cut a strong box, making off with 112 pieces of rhino horn, weighing 80,135 kilograms.
Most of the rhino horns were from de-horning operations, which is an attempt by local authorities to decrease poaching and to protect the rhino species.
The agency hasn’t ruled out the possibility of ‘inside job’ considering how the work was carried out.
Kruger National Park (Mpumalanga), which last week received international funding worth millions has been the hardest hit with rhino poaching.
“Security lapse has been blamed on the agency, not to mention the sensitivity and nature of this kind of situations,” says a tourism senior personnel, whose identity has been withheld.
Investigations are continuing.
At the time of publishing Nkambule had not responded for comment.
