Maputo balks at releasing rhino poaching suspects

PARLIAMENT: Mozambican authorities were reluctant to extradite their citizens suspected of rhino poaching in the Kruger National Park (KNP,) MPs heard yesterday.

“But if the suspect is arrested in South Africa, we will try that suspect.

“The issue is that once a suspect is known in Mozambique, they don’t want to extradite their citizens,” said SAPS head of detectives Lieutenant General Vinesh Moonoo.

“They blame us for killing their citizens. They say the rhinos are more valuable (to us) than their citizens. I explain it’s not about killing their citizens… it’s only when our members’ lives are in danger.”

Moonoo and other members of the SAPS top brass briefed Parliament’s portfolio committee on the police and their efforts to curb rhino poaching in the KNP.

The KNP rhino task team attended to 882 scenes linked to rhino poaching in Mpumalanga – 193 inside the park, and 49 outside the park – in the 12 months from July 2014 to July this year.

Officers seized 57 rhino horns and 117 firearms during the operations inside the park during the same period.

There were currently 112 cases on the court roll in Mpumalanga, with 212 accused – 130 of them South Africans, 80 Mozambicans and two Zimbabweans. Charges ranged from illegal hunting to trespassing.

In Limpopo, officers attended to 26 incidents inside the KNP and 60 outside from December 2014 to July this year. Fifteen suspects were nabbed inside the park, and 64 outside.

During the operations, 49 rhino horns were seized along with 19 firearms and 10 vehicles.

There were currently three cases of illegal hunting on the court roll, with four accused – one South African and three Mozambicans.

A further 56 suspects faced charges of conspiracy to commit a crime of rhino poaching in the province – 22 South Africans, 29 Mozambicans, one Botswana national, and one Zimbabwean.