South African jailed after being caught at Changi Airport in Singapore’s largest seizure of rhino horns

The rhino horns that were seized were worth about S$1.2 million in total.

SINGAPORE: A South African man who was caught at Changi Airport while trying to transport 34.7kg of rhinoceros horns to Laos was sentenced to two years' jail on Friday (Jan 26).

Gumede Sthembiso Joel had pleaded guilty to one charge each of transporting 18 pieces of white rhinoceros horn and two pieces of horns from the rarer black rhinoceros into Singapore without a valid permit.

The rhino horns were worth about S$1.2 million (US$895,400) and were intercepted in October 2022. It was Singapore's largest seizure of rhino horns.

Based on the two different species, the prosecution tried to ask for 37 months' jail, quoting the case of Xavier Yap Jung Houn, where the sentences for the killing of two sons ran consecutively as they were distinct acts.

However, District Judge Eddy Tham on Friday ruled that the situation was different in this case, as Gumede engaged in a single "transaction" when he checked in both bags containing both types of horns.

Judge Tham said this was akin to a drug trafficker, who was found with a packet of drugs that was analysed and later found to contain more than one type of drug. In those cases, sentences are typically ordered to run concurrently, explained the judge.

He sentenced Gumede to concurrent jail terms – 24 months for the white rhino horns and 14 months for the black rhino horns.

Judge Tham also stated that Gumede was not involved in the acquiring and packing of the horns.

Instead, he had shown up at the airport in South Africa, where he took the cargo from his accomplice, a South African man called Jaycee Israel Marvatona.

Gumede sat in the dock listening to proceedings quietly, narrowing his eyes at various points while his lawyer, Ms Stephania Wong from Rajah & Tann, acted for him.

The Case

Gumede, 33, knew Jaycee was involved in the illegal rhino trade. They exchanged WhatsApp messages about rhino horns and the sale of the horns.

After failing to recruit another man to join him on the flight to Laos through Singapore, Gumede took a Singapore Airlines flight from South Africa and transited in Singapore in October 2022.

He had checked in two bags containing cardboard boxes that held the horns.

Fifteen minutes before his connecting flight to Laos was to leave, a baggage screening officer at Changi Airport spotted organic material shaped like horns in the two bags.

Gumede was escorted to an inspection room, where the boxes were opened in his presence, revealing the 20 pieces of rhino horn.

DNA analysis revealed that the horns came from 15 southern white rhinos and one black rhino. Of these, the samples were linked to 11 female rhinos, whose reproduction could have been halted as a result.

The horns, which Jaycee had purchased from illegal poachers in South Africa, were meant to be sold to a person known as Jimmy in Laos.

For bringing in [the horns of] endangered species without the required permits, he could have been jailed for up to two years per charge, fined up to S$50,000 per species, or both.