Rhinoceros horns are among the world’s most valuable black market goods. [Online until: June 13, 2019] Rhino horns are more expensive than gold or cocaine and fetch as much as 30,000 Euros per kilogram. The illegal trade in the coveted raw material is firmly in the grip of the Mafia.
On April 7, 2017, a rhino was shot dead in the Thoiry Zoo near Paris and one of its horns sawn off. It was the first time that a rhinoceros living in Europe had become a victim of poachers, but in Africa it has become an everyday business: a rhino is killed there every eight hours. Although the trade in rhino horns has been banned for forty years, the precious raw material continues to fetch huge profits on the black market. In Asia, rhinoceroses are said to have an aphrodisiac or cancer-inhibiting effects and consumption and possession are regarded as status symbols. Well-organized crime syndicates that are also involved in global arms and drug trafficking are behind the trade in the horns. “Rhino Dollars” documents one of the least known and yet most profitable smuggling rackets in the world. Corruption, violence, and power games: not just innocent animals that are often facing extinction but also many people fall victim to their criminal operations.