Year’s work pays off as poachers nabbed
MORE than 1 000 units of perlemoen, worth thousands of rands on the black market, were seized when a private security firm made “the perfect swoop” on three men at a popular surfing area and poaching hotspot in Port Elizabeth yesterday.
Tactical Task Force’s Tom Swartz, commander of the company’s marine protection unit, said he and his team had been monitoring a group of men closely for more than a year.
This culminated in the three arrests early yesterday in broad daylight at Noordhoek on Marine Drive.
Swartz revealed that the men were repeat offenders for whom there was little in the law to deter them from harvesting perlemoen illegally.
Three divers were spotted in the water by a Tactical Task Force team whose members were lying in wait in hidden positions.
“Once the divers got out carrying the perlemoen, we pounced. It was the perfect swoop,” he said.
The team confiscated 641 units of perlemoen and 631 units of unshelled perlemoen with a street value of about R42 000 on the market.
“The divers make between R16 000 and R20 000 each,” he said.
But Swartz said illegal harvesting continued to gather pace because repeat offenders got a slap on the wrist.
“At most a diver will get a threeyear suspended sentence or a fine, which he will pay in a heartbeat because of how much he makes a day,” Swartz said.
Members of the Humewood K9 unit and fisheries officials assisted with the arrests and were at the scene within minutes of being alerted.
Swartz commended Constable Romano Beck and his Labrador, Mia.
Police spokesman Warrant Officer Alvin Labans confirmed the incident and said: “The three men arrested – aged 22, 30 and 42 – will appear in court soon.”