A magistrate at the Katutura Regional Court has convicted four Chinese nationals of smuggling protected wildlife products. Magistrate Alexis Diergaardt found Wang Hui, Li Zhibing, Li Xiaoliang and Pu Xuexin guilty of attempting to smuggle rhino horns out of Namibia. She dismissed claims by the four that they did not know that 14-rhino horns and a leopard skin were inside their luggage when they left a local hotel two-years ago. Diergaardt said Wang settled his co-accused’s hotel bill and paid for their flight tickets. She further found that Wang had paid for the trio’s flight from China to Namibia and the flight-route through Zambia had been meant to create an impression that the three were tourists. The four will return to the Katutura Regional Court in five-days for the start of sentencing proceedings. All four accused were arrested by members of the Namibian Police Force’s Protected Wildlife Resources Unit between March and May 2014.