Officials with rhino horns that had been confiscated from poachers. File picture.. Officials with rhino horns that had been confiscated from poachers. File picture..
At least 50 people have been arrested on suspected poaching activities across the country in the last two months by a multidisciplinary rhino poaching task team.
Police spokesperson Brigadier Vish Naidoo said the suspects arrested were aged between 24 and 58-years-old.
"They recovered 13 rhino horns, two elephant tusks and 19 hunting rifles during ongoing police operations in various parts of the country over the past two months.
"The team also recovered 15 silencers, two pistols, one shotgun and 155 rounds of ammunition among various other items of evidential value during the operations," he said.
Naidoo explained that as per standard procedure, the rifles and pistols had been sent to the SA Police Services’s Forensic Science Laboratory in Pretoria for ballistic testing, primarily to determine if they had been used to commit other crimes.
"The suspects appeared in various courts across the three provinces for charges ranging from the possession of unlicensed firearms, conspiracy to commit crime, the possession of counterfeit goods, illegal hunting, the possession of rhino horns, the possession of protected endangered species and the possession of elephant tasks," he said.
Meanwhile on Monday in Limpopo, Hoedspruit police arrested three members of a suspected cross-border rhino poaching syndicate believed to be linked to two cases of rhino poaching in the Hoedspruit policing area.
"This is yet another major breakthrough in the fight against rhino poaching after several suspects were arrested recently in Grahamstown in the Eastern Cape," Naidoo said.
Jabulani Ndlovu (corr), 39, Forget Ndlovu (corr) and Skhumbuzo Ndlovu (corr), both aged 37, were found in possession of a firearm, which connected them to more than 60 cases of rhino poaching countrywide. Two of these cases were found to be committed in Hoedspruit.
Naidoo said the three men appeared in the Hoedspruit Magistrate’s Court and their cases were remanded to June 12.
"All three suspects have been denied bail," he added.
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