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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NINE men were arrested over the past for the poaching of protected wildlife species. This is according to environment ministry spokesperson, Romeo Muyunda, who stated that the suspects form part of the three newly registered wildlife criminal cases. It is alleged that Gideon Gao-Naseb, Timotheus Kasera and Champion Haraseb killed a rhino at the Omateva farm in the Omitara constituency. They now face charges of hunting of specially protected species and the removal of protected products. The trio was arrested on 20 August and have been remanded in custody.
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NAM_2019-08_Nine arrested for wildlife crimes_Informant.pdf | 318.89 KB |
The Ministry of Environment and Tourism have mobilised all available resources to collaborate with the Namibian Police in tracing the 34 rhino horns that was stolen from a house in Outjo during a burglary.
According to the MET’s Director of Wildlife and National Parks, Colgar Sikopo, the incident is a cause of serious concern for the ministry as the custodial authority because of the reputational damage the incident caused to Namibia as a responsible manager of wildlife and other natural resources.
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NAM_2019-08_Rhino horn theft cause for serious concern_Informante.pdf | 622.03 KB |
THE protection and management Namibian wildlife and products derived from it will suffer immeasurable damage after 34 rhino horns and millions in local and foreign currency with a total value of N$100 million was stolen on an unguarded hunting farm in the district of Outjo over the weekend. One of the most comprehensive investigations were launched by the Inspector General of the Namibian Police, Lieutenant General Sebastian Ndeitunga, into the theft and especially the circumstances surrounding the theft while the police legal department on the instruction of the general…
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NAM_2019-08_Theft of 34 rhino horns will damage Namibias reputation_Informante.pdf | 445.47 KB |
Three security officers and three employees of the Namibia Airports Company (NAC) are in custody at the Hosea Kutako International Airport after they killed two near extinct African wild dogs and wounded another one that was part of a pack of five in order to steal a kudu carcass that the animals managed to kill on the world famous N/a’an ku sê wildlife sanctuary where the animals were in the process of being rehabilitated.
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NAM_2019-02_NAC meat thieves kill rare African wild dog pack_Informante.pdf | 1.04 MB |
Poaching remains a big concern in Namibia, where it shows that poaching is moving away from the National parks and more into private farms and custodian farms. It can be attributed to the intensified security in parks.
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NAM_2019-07_Poaching decreases compared to last year_Informante.pdf | 1.49 MB |
A man, who stands accused of poaching two rhinos along with four other men on a private farm in the area of Kamanjab in December last year, was granted bail in the amount of N$18 000 this morning. Magistrate Immanuel Udjombala found that the 35-year-old George Nanyeni only role in the crime was that he transported his four co-accused, who actually slaughtered the rhinos, away from the crime scene.
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NAM_2019-07_Poacher gets N$18 000 bail_Informante.pdf | 397.34 KB |
The 51-year-old Tobias Nuuyoma, a senior officer in the Namibian Defence Force and the 55-year-old Samuel Mumbala, a lecturer at the Valombola Vocational Training Centre were released on bail of N$ 5 000 each after they were arrested on charges of poaching over the past weekend.
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NAM_2019-07_Senior NDF officer arrested for poaching_Informante.pdf | 930.35 KB |
The arrest of four people in the Zambezi Region on Sunday while they were in possession of wildlife contraband during concentrated operations by Namibian law enforcement agencies, revealed a smuggling route that stretches over Namibia’s borders with neighbouring Botswana and Zambia. The four accused persons, of whom two are teenage children and the third a Zambian national, appeared in three separate cases in the Katima Mulilo Magistrate’s Court on Tuesday.
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NAM_2019-06_Smugglers of wildlife products appear in court_Informante.pdf | 1 MB |
A wild car chase through the streets of Okahandja that ended in a minor motor vehicle accident resulted in the arrest of the 50-year-old Frieda Goses, a well known stock theft suspect from Otjimbingwe.
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NAM_2019-03_Well known stock theft suspect arrested in Okahandja_Informante.pdf | 2.82 MB |
Officials from the Ministry of Environment assisted by police reservists from Walvis Bay discovered the carcasses of several poached Oryx when they went looking for poachers operating in the Namib Naukluft National Park. According to the official police report provided by Detective Chief Inspector Daniel Gurirab, acting Erongo Regional Crime Investigations Coordinator, a team comprising of environment ministry officials and Namibian Police Reservists, came across three to five suspects, while they were slaughtering illegally hunted Oryx.
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NAM_2019-03_Hunt still on for fleeing desert poachers_Informant.pdf | 964.37 KB |
Five farm security guards face a charge of attempted murder after wounding a suspected poacher who was in the process of fleeing from a makeshift camp on a farm near Karibib. According to Deputy Commissioner Erastus Iikuyu, Erongo Regional Crime Investigations Coordinator, the shooting incident occurred early on Thursday morning on the Farm Okondura Nord No. 15 when a group of five farm security guards discovered three suspected poachers in a camp in the bushes.
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NAM_2019-02_Security guards face a charge of attempted murder_Informante.pdf | 617.24 KB |
The six men who were caught red handed with the carcass of a kudu they stole from a pack of African Wild dogs after killing two and wounding one of the nearly extinct carnivores made their first appearance in the Katutura Magistrate’s Court and were all set free on bail during court proceedings.
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NAM_2019-02_NAC meat thieves set free on bail_Informante.pdf | 1.96 MB |
A medical doctor who was arrested for the illegal possession of elephant tusks has been granted bail in the amount of N$50 000 during a brief appearance in the Windhoek magistrate’s court. Dr. Thomas van Wyk handed himself over to the police after his friends informed the police that he had three tusks at his Auasblick home. The 44-year-old Van Wyk is employed as a medical doctor at the Namibia Oncology Centre in Windhoek. He has over 15 years of experience in a variety of medical fields.
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NAM_2019-01_Doctor freed on bail_Informante.pdf | 524.84 KB |
FOUR Chinese nationals serving a 14-year jail term have approached the high court this week to appeal the sentence as it was "too severe", according to their lawyers. Wang Hui, 43, Li Zhibing, 57, Pu Xuexin, 53 and Li Xiaoliang, 34 tried to smuggle 14 rhino horns and a leopard skin out of Namibia in 2014. How they managed to get through security detection machines at the Hosea Kutako International Airport is to date a mystery.
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NAM_2018-12_Chinese smugglers want lesser sentence_Informante.pdf | 517.97 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 |
Oscar Nkala talks to a jailed Zambian elephant poacher about the structure, financing and operations of cross-border smuggling gangs.
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Oxpeckers_Confessions of an ivory poacher.pdf | 244.99 KB |
How did 13 rhino bulls from the Kruger National Park end up on a hunting farm owned by a reclusive Russian billionaire in Namibia? John Grobler and Khadija Sharife follow the trail
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Oxpeckers_Christo Wieses Namibian rhino deal under scrutiny.pdf | 261.62 KB |
Who are the people driving Namibiaʼs plans to open commercial abattoirs for donkey meat and skins for Asia? Oscar Nkala tracks them down.
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Oxpeckers_Faces behind Namibias donkey abattoirs.pdf | 266.66 KB |
Xuecheng Hou, a wealthy Chinese businessman linked to wildlife contraband trafficking, has emerged as a major player in the illegal trade in rare African timber in sub-Saharan Africa. John Grobler investigates.
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Oxpeckers_Chinese mafia boss_turns to timber in Namibia.pdf | 1.73 MB |
The Namibian authorities don’t seem to be in any hurry to shut down a rhino horn smuggling syndicate that has infiltrated security at Windhoek’s airport, writes John Grobler.
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Oxpeckers_The horn scam at Windhoeks airport.pdf | 241.34 KB |
Depending on your views about legal trade in wildlife products, the past week was either a good week or a very good week for Namibian conservation, writes John Grobler.
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Oxpeckers_Namibia diaries the good_the bad_the ugly.pdf | 2.66 MB |
After a two-year investigation, John Grobler exposes the totem-based networks facilitating transnational rhino horn smuggling and defeating the criminal justice system’s pursuit of suspects.
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Oxpeckers_A mysterious dead hand driving Namibias poaching.pdf | 1.68 MB |
John Grobler visits Okahao, a sleepy settlement near Etosha National Park at the centre of the poaching plague threatening the world’s last viable population of critically endangered black rhinos.
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Oxpeckers_The epicentre of Namibias rhino poaching.pdf | 1.21 MB |
The second recent court development followed the sensational arrest of a young, up-and-coming Windhoek businessman named “Mox” Namwandi. Who is he? John Grobler tracks his connections.
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Oxpeckers_Bling king accused in Namibian rhino poaching.pdf | 250.11 KB |
Oxpeckers Associate Shi Yi set out to investigate Chinese links in Namibia’s poaching crisis, and ended up in the middle of a sting operation that nabbed a former policeman.
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Oxpeckers_Namibias secret ivory business.pdf | 265.83 KB |
Chinese journalist Shi Yi has been following the trial of four alleged rhino horn traffickers in Namibia. She paid a visit to their home villages in China to investigate their backgrounds
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Oxpeckers_Who are Namibias Chinese smugglers.pdf | 244.36 KB |
Court evidence reveals the typical methdology deployed by one of five organised crime syndicates believed to be active in Namibian wildlife trafficking, reports John Grobler.
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Oxpeckers_Inner workings of a Chinese poaching syndicate.pdf | 1.68 MB |
Details about the origins of a rhino poaching syndicate and their modus operandi are emerging in a Namibian court case. By Oxpeckers Reporters in Windhoek.
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Oxpeckers_Chinese rhino poaching suspects in court.pdf | 2.53 MB |
Ecotourism plans for a community-owned game reserve bordering the Kruger National Park are being scuppered by political patronage and the ‘rule book’ in Pretoria. Story and photos by Michelle Nel.
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Oxpeckers_Chief row thwarts conservation dream.pdf | 791.2 KB |
A 10-month-long investigation by John Grobler uncovers the political and commercial agendas driving the world’s largest black rhino population towards extinction.
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Oxpeckers_Caught in the crossfire_how cattle and Chinese mining interests are killing off Namibia.pdf | 759.26 KB |
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Oxpeckers_Namibias national soccer medic linked to rhino poaching and murder.pdf | 1.28 MB |
How did ‘Boxer’ die? Why are dead rhinos being found in the area his team patrolled? John Grobler digs up strange secrets surrounding the deaths of black rhinos in the Kunene region of Namibia.
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Oxpeckers_Strange death of a rhino protector.pdf | 381.08 KB |
Namibia has enjoyed a good reputation for its nature conservation, but there is evidence the illegal trade in wildlife products is thriving. The smuggling hotspot is the Zambezi border region, where five Southern Africa countries intersect. Hongxiang Huang travelled to Zambezi to investigate.
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Oxpeckers_Spotlight on Zambezis poaching problem.pdf | 252.1 KB |