VietNamNet Bridge - Police of Tra Cu district, Tra Vinh province are tracing thieves of the rhino horn of a famous banker, Mr. Tram Be, from his mansion in Ham Giang commune, Tra Cu district.

On the evening of September 27, Tram Be’s family discovered that the rhino horn weighing almost 4 kg (worth more than VND4 billion - $200,000) kept at the family mansion in Tra Vinh had been lost.

Tram Be, former Chairman of the Southern Bank and is currently Vice Chairman of Sacombank, built the mansion in Ham Giang commune as the place to worship his ancestors. He hired nine people to protect the mansion. Tram Be is known as a “secret entrepreneur” and a super-rich man in Vietnam.

As soon as a newspaper of the police reported the case, many people have questioned why Tram Be had that rhino horn? Where did it come from?

According to the Sports and Culture Newspaper, the Wildlife Conservation Society has sent a dispatch to Tra Cu police, asking for clarifying the matters. Accordingly, this organization had their own investigation of the origin of the rhino horn owned by Tram Be.

Specifically, WCS worked with the CITES Management Authority of Vietnam, the agency in charge of the management of the international trade of endangered wild animals and plants. According to this agency, Tran Be is not on the list of those who legally import or export rhino horns in Vietnam. So WCS said that the rhino horn mentioned in the article is likely to be illegal.

The trafficking of illegal rhino horn is prohibited under CITES and the law of Vietnam. This is a topic that Vietnam has recently been criticized by the international community as the country for consumption and transshipment of rhino horns, which made Java rhino extinct in Vietnam and African rhinos are killed. Clarifying the origin of the rhino horn and the question whether Mr.Tram Be broke the law or not are needed.

What does the banker say?



Mr. Tram Be officially spoke about the case and represented evidence of the legal origin of the rhino horn at his mansion.

On October 5, Tram Be told correspondents that he was the person who asked his guards to report the case to the local police.

According to Mr. Tram Be, the stuffed rhino, with its horn being stolen recently, was the gift of his friend, named Ngo Thanh N., residing on Pham Huu Chi Raod, Ward 12, District 5, Ho Chi Minh City) in early March 2007, on the occasion of his housewarming.

He also showed off a greeting card, signed by Mr. N, with the contents: "Happy new home! I would like to present you a white rhino. I hope that this gift to bring good luck to your family. 01/03/2007. Ngo Thanh N, signed".

Tram Be also provided a customs declaration, verified by the Ho Chi Minh City Customs Agency, which shows that in October 2006, Mr. Ngo Thanh N imported a dried white rhino from South Africa to Vietnam by sea. The total shipment weight is 885kg, including the base reinforced with cement and composite resin.




The quarantine registration paper of Mr. Ngo Thanh N, which was certified by the veterinary authorities of HCM City, also explains the purpose of the imported shipment as "decorative item".

These documents show that the stuffed rhino of Tram Be is a legally imported product.
 
Dam De