The rhino horn trade was banned by an international trade accord in 1977, according to Vice. A resurgent underground market, however, kicked in around 2009, when an unnamed “Vietnamese official” announced he cured liver cancer by eating rhino horn. Today, in Asian countries — particularly among wealthier buyers in China, Vietnam and Taiwan — rhino horn is ingested for a range of medical ailments, from hangover cures to aphrodisiacs. There, the men successfully bid on a Chinese libation cup made from rhino horn. “The co-conspirator then smuggled the libation cup out of the United States in his luggage, and failed to declare the export of the rhino horn libation cup as required by law to the U.S.

Source: Washington Post October 02, 2017 08:16 UTC