This handout photo taken on Feb 9, 2026 and released on Feb 10, 2026 by Thailand's Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation shows rhino horns confiscated by customs from a Vietnamese traveller at Suvarnabhumi International Airport in Bangkok. (Photo: AFP)

BANGKOK: Thai authorities arrested a man for allegedly smuggling more than 11kg of rhino horns inside wrapped meat, in a case officials linked on Tuesday (Feb 10) to an international wildlife trafficking network.

The 36-year-old Vietnamese man was detained on Monday after landing at Bangkok's main international airport on suspicion of illegal wildlife imports, the Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation said in a statement.

He was travelling from Lubumbashi in the Democratic Republic of Congo to Laos, transiting through Ethiopia and Thailand, according to the department.

Airport authorities and police seized six pieces of rhinoceros horn and around 12kg of unidentified meat used to conceal them inside a polystyrene icebox.

Sadudee Panpakdee, director of the department's CITES division, told AFP officials were unsure of the value of the seized horns or what type of meat was used to conceal them.

The items were sent to a wildlife forensic laboratory for examination, officials said.

If convicted, the suspect faces up to 10 years in prison and a fine of up to 1 million baht (US$32,000).

All five rhino species are protected under international law and trade in their horns is banned.

Thailand is a major transit hub for wildlife smugglers who often sell highly prized endangered creatures on the lucrative black market in Asia.

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