Editor’s note, November 2026
On appeal, the High Court reduced Lemtongthai’s sentence to 30 years in August 2013, and the Supreme Court of Appeal reduced it to 13 years and a R1 million fine in September 2014. He was released on parole in September 2018, after serving just under six years, and deported to Thailand.
A key figure in an international rhino horn trafficking syndicate, Chumlong Lemtongthai, has been sentenced to an effective 40 years imprisonment by a regional court magistrate in South Africa. Read “Killing for Profit (archived link)” for the inside story on the activities of Lemtongthai, South african game farmer Marnus Steyl and the Xaysavang syndicate.
Devastating video footage of a rhino hunt involving Chumlong and Steyl has also emerged today. Read my story in the Mail & Guardian: and watch the video. (Be warned; it is disturbing)
Archived from killingforprofit.com/2012/11/09/rhino-horn-kingpin-sentenced-to-40-years-in-prison/ · Archived copy, Wayback Machine