South African Police
Service BUST FOR RHINO POACHING!
By Victor
Hlungwani Wednesday, September 19, 2018 15:40
A screen grab of the video. ~
SIX key syndicate members associated with a massive rhino poaching were
arrested in a number of areas in Mpumalanga.
Hawks spokesperson Brigadier Hangwani Mulaudzi said during the swoop
members found and confiscated luxury vehicles and motorbikes, trucks, an
undisclosed amount of money.
He said the seized items are estimated to be over a million rand in value.
Mulaundzi said the suspects aged between 30 and 56, including two
alleged syndicate leaders, one right hand man, two police officers and a former
cop.
They are expected to appear at the White River Magistrate’s Court this
afternoon, facing charges of theft, conspiracy to commit a crime, illegal
buying and selling of rhino horns, corruption and money laundering.
"The significant breakthrough follows an investigative - Project
Broadbill - by the Wildlife
Trafficking Section of the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation which
commenced in January last year," Mulaundzi.
The project focused on the criminal supply chain of poached rhinos
within the Kruger National Park, Kwazulu Natal, Gauteng and other private or
state owned reserves.
Mulaundzi said the syndicate members allegedly ran poaching groups with
the support of corrupt police officials as well as authorities from the private
game farms.
The areas in control of the alleged syndicate includes, traditional
trust areas such as Cork, Belfast, Mkhuhlu, Calcutta and Shabalala trust around
the Hazyview and Mbombela magisterial districts within Mpumalanga.
Mulaundzi said the rhino horns would allegedly get sold at the highest
price to the markets within Gauteng, where after it gets distributed to the
South East Asian markets.
