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Police nab suspected rhino horn robbers

Munich police have made three arrests in their hunt for an international rhino horn robbery ring which has been stealing from museums, auction houses and zoos across Europe.

Police nab suspected rhino horn robbers
Photo: DPA

The two men and a woman were held by police after a routine check showed their car had been registered stolen in Britain. The gang they are thought to be part of has been operating in the UK, Sweden, France and the Czech Republic, stealing the rhino horns probably for sale in East Asia where they can be sold for up to €50,000 each.

The Süddeutsche Zeitung reported on Sunday that the trio were suspected of robbing the horns from a stuffed rhino head in a museum in the southern German town of Offenburg.

The paper said a couple distracted the museum’s employees while two men upstairs climbed on top of a display case, took the head from where it was hanging on the wall and knocked its horns off with a sledge hammer. They then fled with the horns hidden in their coats.

It is not the first such incident. Norbert Niedernostheide of the German Museums Association told the paper there had been more than ten cases of rhino horn theft from museums, auction houses and zoos in the past year alone. Horns have been stolen in Hamburg, Münster, Bamberg and the eastern town of Sebnitz.

The illegal trade in rhino horns – which has fuelled poaching of the protected animals in the wild as well as attacks on living specimens in zoos – depends on the belief in parts of East Asia that they help make men sexually potent.

But Niedernostheide said this was probably rubbish. “The horns are made of keratin,” he told the Süddeutsche Zeitung. “You could also chew your fingernails.”

Despite the arrests, Niedernostheide warned museums to stay alert. “I think that the people behind the crimes will certainly continue,” he said.

The Local/bk

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BUSINESS

Elon Musk visits Tesla’s sabotage-hit German factory

Elon Musk travelled Wednesday to Tesla's factory near Berlin to lend his workers "support" after the plant was forced to halt production by a suspected arson attack on nearby power lines.

Elon Musk visits Tesla's sabotage-hit German factory

The Tesla CEO addressed thousands of employees on arrival at the site, accusing “eco-terrorists” of the sabotage as he defended his company’s green credentials.

With his son X AE A-XII in his arms, Musk said: “I am here to support you.”

The billionaire’s visit came a week after power lines supplying the electric carmaker’s only European plant were set on fire in an act of sabotage claimed by a far-left group called the Vulkangruppe (Volcano Group).

READ ALSO: Far-left group claims ‘sabotage’ on Tesla’s German factory

Musk had said then that the attack was “extremely dumb”, while the company said it would cost it several hundred million euros.

A week on, the lights have come back on at the site, but Andre Thierig, who heads the site, said on LinkedIn that it would “take a bit of time” before production is back to full speed.

Industry experts have warned that the reputational impact caused by the sabotage on the region could be more severe than the losses suffered by Tesla.

Tesla’s German plant started production in 2022 following an arduous two-year approval and construction process dogged by administrative and legal obstacles.

Tesla wants to expand the site by 170 hectares and boost production up to one million vehicles annually to feed Europe’s growing demand for electric cars and take on rivals who are shifting away from combustion engine vehicles.

But the plans have annoyed local residents, who voted against the project in a non-binding ballot last month.

After the vote, Tesla said it might have to rethink the plans. Environmental activists opposed to the expansion of the factory have recently also set up a camp in a wooded area near the plant.

READ ALSO: Why is Tesla’s expansion near Berlin so controversial?

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