Rhino poaching syndicate bust, Musina

Rhino poaching syndicate bust, Musina
Rhino poaching syndicate bust, Musina. Photo: SAPS

In a concerted effort to fight incidents of illegal poaching and stock theft in this Province, the Stock Theft Unit have embarked on an on going operation which is targeting areas with prevalent incidents of this crime categories in all the Clusters.

The Tactical Joint Operation was conducted along the N1 North near Musina on 13 September 2017, which was composed of the Crime Intelligence Unit, the SAPS Borderline Unit, the Endangered Species Unit and the private security including Tracker and made a major breakthrough by intercepting and cracking a rhino poaching syndicate when they were en route to go and poach rhinos in and around Musina Game Farms.

During this operation, two suspects aged 59 and 38 were arrested and the following items were recovered, a 375 hunting rifle, 375 ammunition, a silencer, knife and a suspected stolen motor vehicle.

These suspects will appear before the Musina Magistrate Court soon.

Meanwhile in Morebeng outside Polokwane, a 49 year old stock theft suspect was arrested at Brakfontein farm in the Bosbelt area along the R81 road while he was trying to sell five stolen cattle.

He was travelling with a Ford Ranger towing a trailer both with Gauteng registration numbers. The owner of the farm identified these five cattle but the origin of both the car and the trailer are still being determined.

The suspect will appear before Molemole magistrate court soon.

Police investigations are still continuing.

South Africa Today – South Africa News

SOURCESouth African Police Service