*Translated from the French by an automated online translation service, so please excuse the roughness. See link for the French original.* Opening of the trial for international trafficking in ivory and rhino horns in Rennes (France) Le Monde September 6, 2021 See link <https://www.lemonde.fr/afrique/article/2021/09/06/ouverture-du-proces-d-un-trafic-international-d-ivoire-et-de-cornes-de-rhinoceros-a-rennes_6093587_3212.html> for photo. *During their investigations, customs officials discovered several processing workshops, a completely unheard of fact on French territory.* The trial of an international network of ivory and rhino horn trafficking opened on Monday, September 6 in Rennes (Ille-et-Vilaine), with nine Vietnamese, British and Chinese defendants, including members of the Rathkeale Rovers, a criminal group from the Irish Traveler community. For the Robin des Bois association, which brought a civil action, it is "the international elephant and rhino gravediggers" which is judged until Wednesday. Only three of the nine defendants, aged 29 to 58, appeared Monday morning before the Rennes criminal court. Two are on the run and the others are represented by their lawyers. The case begins with a simple customs control on the night of September 10 to 11, 2015 on the national 10, in Dangé-Saint-Romain, in Vienne. On board the BMW, Poitiers customs officers discovered four African elephant tusks weighing 42.6 kilos and 32,800 euros in cash. The passengers, who claim to be second-hand dealers, are revealed to be members of a traveling crime group known as the Rathkeale Rovers ('Rathkeale Wanderers'), named after the Irish village in County Limerick (southwest) where they are based. Some 4,200 Euros Per Kilo of Ivory From the first arrests in 2015, French customs officials will uncover two networks of international trafficking in raw ivory and rhino horns to Vietnam and China, both in relation to the Rathkeale Rovers. During their investigations, customs officials discovered several processing workshops for horns and tusks, a completely unprecedented fact on French territory, according to an expert. Rhinoceros horns were processed into powder, shavings, balls or tips to be exported and sold more easily in China. A horn weighing nearly 15 kilos was seized during the investigation, as well as about 40 elephant tusks. “At the material time, the retail value of a kilo of ivory in the Asian market was around $ 5,000 [some 4,200 euros] per kilo and rhino horn retailed for $ 1,000 [around 840 euros] the gram”, notes the Robin des Bois association in a press release, which denounces “poaching with its cruelties” generated by this traffic. "The investigation showed that several auction houses in Cannes, Toulouse, Le Puy have facilitated the export of elephant tusks to Vietnam", also points out the association. The defendants incur "a ten-year prison sentence and a heavy fine", according to a press release from the Rennes public prosecutor Philippe Astruc. The trade in protected species is governed by the Washington Convention of 1st July 1975. https://www.lemonde.fr/afrique/article/2021/09/06/ouverture-du-proces-d-un-trafic-international-d-ivoire-et-de-cornes-de-rhinoceros-a-rennes_6093587_3212.html