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Namibian Wildlife Crimes article archive

This archive of published media articles about wildlife crime in Namibia aims to:

  • provide easy public access to published information and statistics
  • enable easy stakeholder access to articles
  • provide a comprehensive archive of wildlife crime reporting in Namibia

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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Displaying results 1 - 7 of 7
Thursday, 19 January 2023
Chingarande D 2023. Chinese national, 3 accomplices in court over rhino horns.

A Chinese national Wang Yang and his three local accomplices including a police officer stationed in Harare appeared in court on Wednesday charged with illegal possession of rhino horns worth US$600 000.

Tuesday, 24 August 2021
Chingarande D 2021. Man in court for possession of pangolin.

A Harare man who, resides at the Presidential Guard Brigade, appeared at the Harare Magistrates Court charged with unlawful possession of a live pangolin.

Saturday, 31 July 2021
Chingarande D 2021. Pangolin scales land 3 in court. NewsDay Zimbabwe

Three people have been arrested after they were found selling pangolin scales.

Monday, 19 July 2021
Chingarande D 2021. 2 nabbed for illegal possession of ivory.

Two unemployed Harare men appeared in court last week for illegal possession of ivory.

Thursday, 27 May 2021
Ocharo B 2021. Kenya: Nine Kenyan suspects linked to notorious Liberian ivory smuggler.

New evidence supplied by the US government links two Kenyans implicated in Sh570 million ivory smuggling to notorious Liberian poacher and ivory trafficker Moazu Kromar. Documents filed in a Mombasa court claim Kenyan businessman Abdulrahman Mahmoud Sheikh alias Said Juma Said and his son Sheikh Mahmoud Abdulrahman received instructions from Mr Kromar to facilitate ivory smuggling. The Liberian poacher was extradited to the US in 2019, where he is facing ivory-trafficking charges. Mr Mahmoud, his son and six other Kenyans are facing ivory smuggling charges in Mombasa.

Monday, 13 July 2020
Peters C 2020. Elfenbein, Schuppen, Tropenholz - Schmuggel geschützter Arten boomt.

Der verbotene Handel mit geschützten Tieren und Pflanzen bleibt laut einem UN-Bericht ein Milliardengeschäft. Neben Elefant, Nashorn und Tiger geht es derzeit vor allem dem Schuppentier an den Kragen. Das stand zwischenzeitlich auch als Coronavirus-Wirt im Verdacht. 

The prohibited trade in protected animals and plants remains a billion dollar business, according to a UN report. In addition to the elephant, rhinoceros and tiger, the pangolin is currently on the collar. In the meantime, this was also suspected as a corona virus host.

Briceno T, Perche J 2021. Namibia Case Study: Cost-Benefit Analysis of Curbing Illegal Wildlife Trade -  Final report for the project "Assessing the economic impact of Illegal Wildlife Trade in the SADC region" funded by USAID's VukaNow Activity, June 2021.

Since 2014, Namibia has seen a surge in wildlife poaching as a result of increasing international demand and depleting wildlife populations in other areas of the world. This has led to the loss of high-value species (such as elephants, rhinos, and pangolins) and concern about ecosystem impacts and associated economic losses. For instance, Namibia has become a key country for illegally sourced rhino horn, with a total of 416 rhino poached between 2013 and 2019, compared to only 13 rhinos poached between 2005 and 2013 (MEFT; 2020b, Milliken, 2014).

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