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Durban - Two men were arrested and charged for illegal possession of abalone worth R3 million after a high speed chase between police and a Nissan Navara, Eastern Cape police said.

The South African National Parks has welcomed the lengthy jail terms handed down to three Mozambican nationals convicted of rhino poaching.

Zitha was convicted on a host of poaching-related offences which included trespassing, possession of a firearm with a silencer, possession of ammunition, killing of a rhino, possession of an axe and conspiracy to commit an offence.

Simba Masinga, one of the seven prisoners who escaped from Waainek Correctional Centre in Makhanda in the early hours of Tuesday morning, has been rearrested. Police said Masinga, convicted for rhino poaching, was the second person to be arrested.

A six-year jail sentence for a man who smuggled 1 100 Emperor scorpions, 42 Bell's hingeback tortoises and a water lizard. Seventeen years imprisonment for elephant poachers in the Kruger National Park. A 10-year jail sentence for a pangolin poacher. 

Four succulent poachers have been sentenced to seven years imprisonment for trying to steal 14 endangered Halfmens (Pachypodium namaquanum) succulent plants within the |Ai|Ais/Richtersveld Transfrontier Park in the Northern Cape.

South Africa's diverse wildlife means it plays a "devastating role" as both source and transit country for wildlife trafficking. The most popular animal parts include rhino horn, abalone, pangolin and ivory, which is moved through South Africa to the East.

Durban: Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife said the search was on for a suspected poacher, who may jumped into St Lucia Lake to avoid arrest.

An intelligence-driven operation by the Hawks has resulted in the arrest of six suspects caught with elephant tusks in Durban. Police said the suspects, aged between 27 and 40, face charges for contravening the National Environmental Management of the Biodiversity Act.

In just over a week, Ray Jansen and his team have recovered four trafficked pangolins - three of them pregnant - in sting operations from the illicit trade in various parts of South Africa. In total, 11 people were arrested by a team of dedicated and specialised law enforcement officers.The operations are a sign, says Jansen, of the African Pangolin Working Group, that pangolin poaching has resumed under Level 3 lockdown restrictions.

Poaching incidents could increase during the lockdown period as criminal networks try to take advantage of the closing of parks, perceiving a reduced presence of law enforcement now dealing with the Covid-19 emergency. “We are in receipt of intelligence that known poaching organisers operating across southern Africa intend taking advantage of the current situation,” said Sarah Stoner, director of intelligence at the Wildlife Justice Commission (WJC).

Guyanese finches are almost always smuggled in hair curlers from Guyana to New York, while pig-nosed turtles are trafficked in high amounts, declared as a marine species, and flown from a regional Indonesian airport to Jakarta before flying to China. The greatest variation in wildlife trafficking in air transport doesn’t necessarily occur between regions but between the species or wildlife products trafficked, the specific methods used with the routes taken by wildlife traffickers heavily dependent on wildlife type, says the Runway to Extinction report:…

Rhinos are known for their distinctive horn or in some cases two horns on their nose. It's a great shame how some people do not consider these animals as the treasures that they are. They are also known as part of the big five.