Fifty rhino horns stolen from a stockpile in the North West will likely leave South Africa as beads, mugs, or souvenirs, experts have said. The stockpile was stolen in the early hours of Monday morning from the North West Parks and Tourism Board in Mahikeng. Reports suggest the robbers evaded security measures, alarms, security cameras and bypassed the locking mechanism of the vault. Experts have speculated that the rhino horns may already be on their way to Asian markets, based on insights into how wildlife crime syndicates operate. Martin Ewi, Institute for Security Studies Southern Africa's organised crime observatory coordinator, said a kingpin in a market country, such as China or Vietnam, would usually order a supply of rhino horn from another kingpin in a source country, such as South Africa. He would then hire a broker or middleman with connections in the government and security agencies to plan the robbery. The broker will know the facility's layout and security systems - often supplied by an insider - and will have planned an escape route based on police response methods.