source: www.chinaantiques.com/china-antiques/2012/02/24/texas-rodeo- FORT WORTH, Texas — Aprofessional rodeo cowboy from Texas who also breaks and trains camelsis sitting in a Waco jail awaiting transfer to California, where hefaces federal charges of trafficking in rhinoceros horns for the illicitAsian folk-medicine market.Wade Steffen, 32, of Hico, who hasn’t wrestled steers since beingattacked by a camel in March, is one of seven people arrested in fourstates since Saturday in “Operation Crash,” an 18-month investigationnamed after the term for a group of rhinos.More arrests are likely, said Ed Grace, deputy chief of lawenforcement at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. “This is an ongoinginvestigation,” he said.Among those detained was a Chinese businessman who was picked up when he arrived in Los Angeles on Wednesday night.Another key figure is Jimmy Kha, owner of a California tradingcompany. Kha, his girlfriend and his adult son are accused of using aporcelain-importing company and a Vietnamese nail salon as fronts forreceiving and shipping black rhino horns over the past three years,according to a federal affidavit appended to a criminal complaint.Authorities have seized 37 rhino horns, $1 million in cash and $1 million in gold ingots, Grace said.Buyers typically pay about $5,000 a pound for rhino horn — evenantique ornamental pieces or ones cut from mounted heads — and sell themin China and Vietnam for $25,000 a pound, Grace told the Fort WorthStar-Telegram in a call from Los Angeles.Rhino horn is considered a cancer cure and aphrodisiac. Experts sayany claims of medicinal properties are pure myth, noting that the hornis made of keratin, the same material as human fingernails.Rhinos are already on the brink of extinction, and demand for thehorn in powder form led to 440 rhino deaths last year in South Africaalone.“Illegal poaching of rhinos is a cruel and inhumane practice thatthreatens the very existence of this magnificent African species,” AndreBirotte Jr., the U.S. attorney in Los Angeles, said in a statement.“Smugglers are an integral part of this international criminal chain,which is why we continue to target traffickers in the United States whosupport a heinous industry.”On Feb. 9, Transportation Security Administration agents atCalifornia’s Long Beach Airport found $337,000 in hand luggage whenSteffen; his wife, Molly; and his mother, Merrily, passed through asecurity checkpoint.The federal affidavit said the agents acted on a tip from undercoverFish and Wildlife investigators who had been trailing the Steffens inCalifornia, spotting them with Kha and his girlfriend at his businessand a seafood restaurant.Authorities also found two keys to safe-deposit boxes at the First National Bank of Hico.Steffen is accused of buying old rhino horns around the country and selling them to Kha since January 2010.The alleged transactions apparently occurred between rodeos, whichhad earned him $247,000 over a career dating to 2006. Steffen, the sonof a steer wrestler, was 2010 co-champion at the All-American ProRodeoFinals in Waco, where he is now in custody at the Jack Harwell DetentionCenter.On Feb. 11, 2011, Steffen won $1,500 in prizes for steer wrestling inSan Antonio, according to the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association.