NC cops nab rhino poaching suspects
WHILE five alleged rhino poachers were arrested in Kuruman on the weekend, no arrests have yet been made following a poaching incident that saw four rhinos on a farm outside Kimberley slaughtered.
Police in the Northern Cape yesterday confirmed that five suspects linked to rhino poaching in the John Taolo Gaetsewe cluster were arrested on Saturday following “a multi-disciplinary, crime intelligence-led operation”.
“The police in the Northern Cape and Vryburg in the North West joined forces with the Kuruman Highway Patrol, the Stock Theft Unit, the Visible Policing, the K9 Unit and the Crime Intelligence Unit. Members acted on intelligence information received regarding suspected poachers on a farm in Severn, near Kuruman. Members conducted waylay duties and worked around the clock over the weekend to secure the farm, where it was believed that the poachers intended to execute criminal activities,” police spokesperson, Olebogeng Tawana, said.
He added that further intelligence information led police to raid a suspect’s house in Bankhara, near Kuruman.
“Upon search and investigation of the house, five suspects were arrested. An assault rifle was found hidden inside the house and confiscated after the suspects failed to produce a licence to possess a firearm,” Tawana said.
He added that the five suspects faced a charge of illegal possession of a firearm and they could be possibly linked to a case of illegal hunting, where rhinos were dehorned in Severn in August this year.
“Our preliminary investigation indicated that some of the suspects are wanted in the Eastern Cape for cases related to poaching and illegal hunting. The suspects are expected to appear in the Kuruman Magistrate’s Court soon on a charge of illegal possession of a firearm,” Tawana said.
Meanwhile, no arrests have yet been made in connection with an incident where four rhinos were shot and killed on Alexandersfontein Game Farm just outside Kimberley last weekend.
According to the farm owner, Gavin Schafer, three of the rhinos – a bull, a cow and a three-year-old heifer – were dehorned during the incident, while the fourth rhino, an eight-month-old calf, was found with its horn still intact but dead, about three kilometres from where it was shot.
The animals were discovered by Schafer’s son last Sunday.
Schafer said yesterday that a fire broke out on the south-eastern part of the farm, “close to the road”, on the Saturday and that it was believed that this was an act of arson by the poachers, who used the fire as a distraction while they were busy dehorning the rhinos on the north-western side of the farm, about 70 metres from their lot.
Schafer described the incident as “devastating”, adding that the four rhinos, with a combined value of about R1.3 million, were the only ones on the farm.