Police have arrested three suspects, including a Department of Agriculture official, for allegedly conspiring to smuggle 14 rhino horns, worth about 50 million baht, from South Africa to Thailand.
Nikon Wongchan, a plant quarantine official at Suvarnabhumi airport, is accused of picking up a case containing the horn and bypassing a customs check before passing it on to a Vietnamese courier.
The other two suspects were named as Hoa Pek, from Vietnam, and a Chinese national identified only as Sen. All three are in custody and charged with possessing and smuggling parts of a protected animal into the country.
Rhino horn is a prohibited item listed under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES).
One kilogramme on the black market is said to fetch US$100,000 or around 3.2 million baht -- more than the price of gold.
Mr Nikon and the Vietnamese suspect, both arrested at Mr Nikon's apartment in Samut Prakan's Bang Phli district, confessed to the smuggling, police said.
The 42-year-old Thai official said he was recruited via the Line application by someone identified only as Chai.
He told police he was offered 3,000 baht per kilogramme just to "carry luggage out of the airport," and had done so on several occasions.
Mr Nikon said he was aware what he was doing was illegal and had planned to quit, but when he was offered 9,000 baht a kilogramme for the latest job, he decided to do it.
According to his testimony, Mr Nikon took the case containing the rhino horns off a conveyor belt, bypassed customs and carried it to his car. He later drove the car home to his apartment.
He said Mr Chai contacted him to say a man would come to his apartment to pick up the case.
Meanwhile, the Vietnamese suspect said he was told to travel to Thailand and pick up the case by his boss in Vietnam. The suspect said he was paid 170,000 baht for each job. According to police, the Chinese suspect brought the contraband to Thailand from South Africa via Dubai.