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Even though wildlife criminals the world over use money-laundering techniques to disguise the origin of their proceeds, there is only one case in South Africa in which money laundering related to poaching is being investigated. According to the Wildlife Justice Commission's July report - Dirty Money: The Role of Corruption in Enabling Wildlife Crime - tackling financial flows and recovering proceeds from these crimes is key to removing profits from criminality and preventing investments to perpetuate crimes. The report said: …

Cape Town - Three Saudi nationals have been ordered by the Vredendal Regional Court to pay R2 million to the State after they entered a plea and sentence agreement for being in possession of 1.63 million flora items. NPA spokesperson Eric Ntabazalila said on Thursday, "The court ordered Abdulnaser Mohammed Althenaian, his son Mohand Abulnaser Althenaian and Bedah Abdulrahman Albedah to leave South Africa within 48 hours of their release and declared them unfit to possess a firearm."

Cape Town - Four suspects were arrested by police for the poaching of five rhinos at a private game reserve. Police spokesperson Wesley Twiggs said the four arrested suspects were expected to appear in Ceres Magistrate’s Court after they have been charged. Five rhinos were attacked by poachers at Inverdoorn Private Game Reserve just outside Cape Town last week. Four of the rhinos were killed while the fifth rhino survived a gunshot to the face.

"It is not uncommon for the money flows associated with illegal wildlife trade (IWT) to be linked to other crimes, such as fraudulent documentation or paperwork, trade-based money laundering including over-, under-, or fictitious invoicing, as well as corruption to facilitate the inflow of funds into SA," said the report. It emphasised that wildlife and wildlife products from SA are in high demand globally, with China and other Asian countries representing the largest markets.

An anti-poaching operation in the Kruger National Park at the weekend netted five suspected poachers. It was described as a "fruitful" weekend in the Pretoriuskop section of the park, where the suspects were found in possession of ammunition, a silencer and two high-calibre hunting rifles. "We are delighted with our anti-poaching teams who were able to arrest suspects before any animal was killed. The actions are a morale booster for our anti-poaching teams and conservation efforts," said Gareth Coleman, managing executive of the park.

The dogs, who vary from a beagle to bloodhound, began training from birth before working at 18 months-old at the Southern African Wildlife College in Greater Kruger National Park.