Johannesburg – The South African Revenue Service's (Sars) Customs unit seized over seven kilograms in rhino horns that were declared as "tea bags" at OR Tambo International Airport, Sars said in a statement on Friday.

The discovery of 7.035 kilograms of horn was made on Wednesday when the shipment was put through the scanning process by customs officials who observed that the images were consistent with rhino horns.

Sars spokesperson, Sandile Memela, said: "Upon a physical inspection, the contents of the box were found to include eight pieces of rhino horn wrapped in foil. The rhino horn was concealed amongst packets of sweets and chocolates. The shipment was destined for Hong Kong via Qatar, Doha."

The found goods have been handed over for further investigation to the South African Police Service and the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigations (Hawks).

African News Agency