Three in court over rhino poaching

Friday, June 12, 2015

Pretoria – Efforts by law enforcement agencies to deal with the rhino poaching plague proactively are steadily gaining momentum.

Three rhino poachers are expected to appear at the Acornhoek Magistrate Court today.

The three were arrested by the South African Police Service’s National Intervention Unit and Mpumalanga Tracking Team in separate incidences on Thursday.

In the first incident, a 30-year-old South African male and a 32-year-old Mozambican male were arrested at their place of residents where a 416 calibre hunting rifle and a 458 silencer with no serial number were discovered.

They have been charged with possession of an unlicensed firearm.

In another incident, a 38-year-old South African male was also arrested for a separate suspected rhino poaching case.

He was charged with possession of an unlicensed firearm and ammunition after a 38 special revolver with no serial number, two 38 rounds, a 38 cartridge and an axe were found at his place.

While acknowledging the efforts to arrest the poachers, SAPS spokesperson Brigadier Vishnu Naidoo said a lot more still needs to be done to save the animals.

“While we are tackling the foot soldiers of this evil, we will continue to focus our efforts on the leaders of this criminal underworld because these are the people that are creating a market for this type of products.”

Environmental crimes, especially rhino poaching is listed as one of the priorities of the Southern African Regional Police Chiefs Committee (SARPCCO).

With this collaboration and commitment of the police chiefs in this region, Naidoo was confident that the space for this criminality to perpetuate is drastically limited. -SAnews.gov.za