The Hawks arrested three suspects for possession of a rhino horn in Atteridgville outside Pretoria.
The trio was apprehended yesterday morning and expected to appear in the Atteridgeville Magistrate’s Court today. Hawks spokesperson, Capt Paul Ramaloko, said the local police spotted a vehicle during a routine patrol and pulled over a suspicious vehicle.
“Upon ...searching the vehicle, police found the rhino horn wrapped in a sheet and shelved inside the car bonnet. “We suspect that these suspects, who hail from Hammanskraal, were coming from Limpopo were we recently got a report of poached rhinos,” he said.
In a separate incident, another three suspected rhino poachers are expected to appear in the Makhado Magistrate’s Court today for a formal bail application.
A fourth suspect was also arrested in connection with the same case and will also appear in the Makhado Magistrate’s Court together with his accomplices.
The suspects, aged between 36 to 41 were arrested last week after police received information that a rhino had been poached inside the farm in Alldays.
Police, led by members of the Hawks, raced to the farm, surrounded it and after an extensive search the suspects were cornered and arrested in possession of two rhino horns, a ·375 rifle and an axe.
The suspects are facing charges of illegal possession of a firearm and ammunition, poaching of a rhino, possession of rhino horns and trespassing.
Meanwhile, three suspects aged between 29 to 42 held for suspected rhino poaching last week Friday, in an intelligence- led operation between crime intelligrence and Vaalwater detectives, have been denied bail by the Vaalwater Periodical Magistrate pending their next appearance on June 25.
A Toyota tazz, a ·416 rifle with a silencer, an axe and a saw were seized from the suspects. Since the start of the year, 442 rhinos have been poached in South Africa and 123 suspected poachers arrested.
The Kruger National Park has lost 293 rhinos to poachers, with 56 people, including a former ranger and two policemen, being arrested for poaching.
By:
The New Age newspaper
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