Three men, who were allegedly intending to sell five rhino horn, are expected to appear in the Pretoria Regional Court on Wednesday.
The three, Pieter Van Zyl, 67, Marco Swanepoel, 35, and Stephan Mylie, 30, were arrested in Equestria, Pretoria, and were found in possession of an additional three rhino horns during their arrest in August. During follow-up investigations, 105 rhino horns‚ the value of which is yet to be determined‚ were found.
Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (Hawks) endangered species unit members arrested the three men for allegedly intending to sell rhino horns to an undercover agent, Hawks spokesman Brigadier Hangwani Mulaudzi said at the time.
“It is alleged that the three intended to sell five rhino horn and unaware that it was a sting operation, they were then rounded up by the Hawks members,” he said.
“The trio were led to their hide-out, Van Zyl’s house, where a further three rhino horn were found and seized. The eight horns are estimated to be worth over R800,000.”
The team went back to the same house as part of their ongoing investigation and were stunned to find a massive haul of 105 rhino horn, the full value of which was yet to be determined, Mulaudzi said.
Van Zyl, a well-known game farmer, alleged the rhino horns belonged to him. Despite that claim, the Hawks team was validating the alleged permits issued by the environmental affairs department and taking DNA samples of all the horns and comparing them to the Rhodis database at Onderstepoort.
The three men appeared in the Pretoria Regional Court in August.
Van Zyl was granted R20,000 bail, while Swanepoel and Mylie were released on R10,000 bail each. The case was postponed to October 12 for further investigation.
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