Informers aid in poacher arrests
Thanks to paid informers, four rhino poaching suspects have been arrested in Mkhuze
DESPITE the significant arrest of four rhino poaching suspects in Zululand on Saturday night, both the provincial and national statistics show that the number of rhino deaths continues to escalate at an alarming rate.
Mkhuzi field rangers in conjunction with the SAPS arrested the four in the KwaJobe area.
The suspects were in possession of an illegal .375 firearm with a suppressor.
A case has been opened in the Ubombo magistrate’s court. According to Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife spokesperson Musa Mntambo, Ezemvelo had earlier received information about planned rhino poaching in the Mkhuze Game Reserve.
Mntambo said Ezemvelo had paid over R120 000 to informers in the greater Mkhuze area over past six months.
‘This has obviously activated interest in reporting rhino poachers.’
EKZN CEO, Dr Bandile Mkhize said: ‘Our latest strategy is to take the anti-rhino poaching fight to poachers before they kill our rhinos because there is nothing we can do once they are dead.
‘These arrests show how critical it is to have a good informer network.’
The number of known rhino deaths in South Africa this year has risen to 790, of which 75 have been in KZN parks and private reserves.
The respective totals for 2012 were 668 (RSA) and 66 (KZN).
Arrests nationally this year amount to 169, as opposed to 267 last year.
KZN has so far made 29 arrests in 2013, compared to the 20 of the previous year.
