Five alleged rhino poachers are due to appear in KwaMbonambi Magistrate Court in Kwazulu-Natal on Thursday to face charges of possession of unlicensed firearms and ammunition, trespassing in a national park and illegal hunting, police said.
Police spokesperson Brigadier Vishnu Naidoo said the five suspects whose ages ranged from 31 to 35-years-old were arrested on Wednesday by the members of the South African Police Service forming part of Operation Rhino, a SAPS-led initiative aimed at bringing illegal hunters of rhino and other endangered species to justice.
Two of the suspects are from Mozambique while three are South Africans.
“Their arrests bring to 10 the number of suspects arrested in parks in KwaZulu-Natal and Mpumalanga in the past six days alone by a reaction team which consist of the detectives, the National Intervention Unit (NIU), Forensic Services, the Tracking Team, Tactical Response Team (TRT) and the SA National Parks’ rangers,” Naidoo said.
He said as many as three hunting rifles, 20 live rounds of ammunition, silencers, knives and axes were recovered and confiscated during the operation.
“Five of the other suspects who were arrested over the weekend have already appeared in courts in both provinces to face possession of firearms and ammunition charges, trespassing, illegal hunting and possession of rhino horns,” Naidoo said.
“Two of the suspects appeared in the Ubombo Magistrate’s Court, the other two in the Ngwelezane Magistrate’s Courts in KwaZulu-Natal while the other one appeared in absentia in the Bushbuckridge Magistrate’s Court in Mpumalanga.”
Naidoo said three other men, Solly Tobela, Simon Ngulele and Sipho Carlos Ngoveni, were sentenced to 15 years, 21 years and 12 months respectively for trespassing by the Skukuza Magistrate’s Court in Mpumalanga this week.
He said SAPS welcomed the lengthy sentences handed down by the courts for the perpetrators of these crimes.
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