This archive of published media articles about wildlife crime in Namibia aims to:
Public access to information is a vital component of ensuring community engagement in prevalent issues. Wildlife crime is one of the pressing environmental issues of our time.
Wildlife crime investigations are generally covert operations requiring utmost confidentiality to succeed. Investigations and prosecutions in complex cases may take months or even years to complete. For this reason, the information that can be released to the public without compromising cases is often limited. Nonetheless, the Namibian government strives to share as much information as possible with the public.
The Namibian media has welcomed this approach and regularly publishes statistics and feature articles on wildlife crime. These are entered into the database at regular intervals, creating a comprehensive archive of wildlife crime reporting in Namibia.
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Police arrest six suspected rhino poachers in Limpopo and Gauteng; recover horns, guns and ammunition.
The Hawks have arrested a second suspect allegedly linked to the stockpile hit at the North West Parks Board headquarters in Mafikeng last week. According to a Daily Maverick source, the suspect was apprehended in a planned operation near Brits at about 9pm on Tuesday. On Wednesday morning the arrest was confirmed by a senior SAPS officer who did not want to be identified.
Conservationists are raising serious questions about crime scene protocols - and the sense in stockpiling rhino horn - after a report claimed the police took eight hours to respond to a burglary at the North West Parks Board on Monday. In what is being described as a well-planned heist executed with military precision, thieves broke into the Heritage House headquarters of the North West Parks Board in the early hours of Monday and stole 51 rhino horns worth millions of rands on the Asian black market.
Wildlife officials have hailed the National Prosecuting Authority’s (NPA) recent decision to appeal what it called the lenient sentences handed to two rhino poachers in May, as well as the jailing this week of one of the men in a separate case.
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SA_2022_12_NPA applauded for tougher stance on rhino poachers_Mail and Guardian.pdf | 238.77 KB |
The national prosecuting authority (NPA) has reinstated charges and re-enrolled an eight-year-old case against known rhino poacher Gideon (aka Deon) van Deventer, after it emerged the original case had been quashed and struck from the roll under dubious circumstances. The state’s 2014 Bronkhorstspruit firearms case against Van Deventer was re-opened in June this year after a whistle-blower tipped off law enforcement authorities and court officials about a miscarriage of justice that occurred at the Bronkorstspruit magistrate’s court on 24 July 2015.
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SA_2022_10_State reinstates charges against rhino poacher Gideon van Deventer_Mail and Guardian.pdf | 308.36 KB |
Amidst the growing devastating impact of climate change on the Nigerian environment, conservation efforts are being threatened by trafficking of wildlife.
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NIG_2022_03_Concerns as wildlife trafficking continues in Nigeria_allAfrica_com.pdf | 282.02 KB |
A long-serving nature conservation official and a former policeman have been charged in connection with illegally transporting 17 rhino horns from the Northern Cape to North West province in contravention of permit conditions.
At least 369 alleged poachers have been arrested in the last nine months, the Ministry of Environment, Forestry and Tourism says. "Of these cases, 100 are related to pangolin poaching and trafficking, 64 to elephant poaching and trafficking, while 113 are related to rhino poaching and trafficking," ministry spokesperson Romeo Muyunda says. Over the last five years, elephant poaching has declined from 50 cases in 2017 to five thus far this year, while rhino poaching declined from 81 cases in 2018 to 14 this year. Ministry officials last week discovered two carcasses…
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NAM_2021_10_Poaching_ 369 arrests in nine months_The Namibian.pdf | 705.31 KB |
SA National Parks (SANParks) on Friday welcomed the 23-year prison sentence handed to a rhino poacher by the Skukuza regional court prosecuting team. Alsony Alberto Valoyi, an illegal immigrant from Mozambique, pleaded guilty to six charges related to rhino poaching after being arrested inside the Kruger National Park (KNP) in November 2016.
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SA_2021_06_Kruger National Park rhino poacher gets 23_year sentence_Times Live.pdf | 378.91 KB |
Sixteen suspects who were arrested will appear in the Hofmeyr magistrate's court on Tuesday to face a charge of illegal hunting. The 16 suspects, who range between the ages of 23 and 48 years, were arrested on Sunday for illegal hunting on the farm Gruisheuwel, in the Hofmeyr district.
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SA_2020-05_Sixteen to appear in court for hunting springbok with dogs and knives_TimesLIVE.pdf | 475.91 KB |
Outrage greeted the early release of notorious Thai trafficker Chumlong Lemtongthai, who used false South African hunting permits to launder rhino horns. Simon Bloch reports.
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Oxpeckers_Fury at release of rhino pseudo-hunt kingpin.pdf | 241.77 KB |