MBOMBELA – Eight newly arrested suspects appeared in several courts in connection with rhino poaching-related crimes this past week.
The arrests were made by Operation Rhino in Skukuza and Phalaborwa. Suspects were also taken into custody in Limpopo and KwaZulu-Natal.
According to the Hawks’ Brig Hangwani Mulaudzi, these successes can be attributed to hard work by the South African Police Service’s Operation Rhino. The national operation is the police’s fourth attempt at tackling the rhino-poaching pandemic in the Kruger National Park (KNP). The ages of the suspects range from 19 to 40 years.
When poaching became prevalent in 2008, the Skukuza Police Station’s detectives conducted investigations in tandem with SANParks’ Environmental Crimes Investigations Unit.
However, in 2012 it was ordered that poaching cases would be investigated by the police’s Organised Crime Unit.
In 2014, a Skukuza task team was established to investigate rhino poaching. The situation changed again in August 2015 when intelligence-driven Operation Rhino came into being.
According to Mulaudzi, two pistols and five hunting rifles, 45 rounds of ammunition, a stolen vehicle, hunting knives and axes were seized. The suspects appeared in magistrate’s courts in Skukuza, Mhala, Hluhluwe, Mkhuze, Phalaborwa and Hoedspruit this week. Charges included the illegal possession of firearms and ammunition, hijacking, conspiring to poach rhino and the possession of rhino horns.
None of them applied for bail. Mulaudzi could not provide the accused’s details and said that their cases were postponed to “various dates”.
