Johannesburg – A woman was arrested after 20kg of rhino horn was found in her luggage at OR Tambo International Airport, police said on Wednesday.

The 24-year-old woman had arrived on a flight from Lusaka, Zambia, on Tuesday night, Brigadier Vishnu Naidoo said in a statement.

Eleven pieces of rhino horn were found in her bag, which was intercepted in the luggage transfer area of the international arrivals terminal. She had intended taking a connecting flight on SAA to Hong Kong.

She would face charges under the Endangered Species Act and appear in the Kempton Park Magistrate’s Court on Thursday.

Naidoo said efforts to stop crime in and around the airport were starting to bear fruit. Since the implementation of a plan to make the airport safe, a robbery in the cargo terminal had been foiled.

He said there had been no further reports of people being followed from the airport and robbed.