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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Namibian authorities are investigating a surge in rhino poaching that has seen 28 rhinos poached already this year, two-thirds of them in the Southern African country's flagship Etosha National Park. It was particularly concerning that 19 rhinos were poached in Etosha this year, given the park is a focus for conservation efforts and a major international tourist attraction, the environment ministry said in a statement on Monday.
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NAM_2024_04_Namibia investigates surge in rhino poaching in Etosha park_Reuters.pdf | 113.1 KB |
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SA_2024_02_Rhino poaching in South Africa increases in 2023_Reuters.pdf | 829.65 KB |
The number of endangered rhinos poached in Namibia reached an all-time high last year after 87 animals were killed compared to 45 in 2021, official government data showed on Monday. The Ministry of Environment, Forestry and Tourism spokesperson Romeo Muyunda said poachers killed 61 black and 26 white rhinos mainly in Namibia's largest park, Etosha, where 46 rhinos were found dead.
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NAM_2023_01_Namibia rhino poaching surged 93 percent in 2022_Reuters.pdf | 322.79 KB |
It was a mistake. Ten tons of ivory and 190 kilograms of rhino horn were sold over a seven-year period, according to the indictment. It was actually much more than that. Much, much more. Moazu Kromah, a Liberian national, had pled guilty in March to three charges relating to wildlife trafficking in Africa. In his letter pleading for leniency submitted to the Southern District of New York, he thanked the court for the opportunity to "give some information about myself and the circumstances that led me to make the mistakes which bring me before you."
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AFR_2022_09_African courts need to take the lead in trying traffickers_International Policy Digest.pdf | 748.55 KB |
Authorities in Mozambique have arrested "Navara", aka Simon Ernesto Valoi, and an associate in connection with allegedly attempting to sell rhino horns in the country’s capital, Maputo. For many years Navara has had the reputation of being one of the most notorious rhino poaching syndicate leaders in Mozambique. He was arrested with an associate, Paulo Zukula, on July 26 2022 in possession of eight rhino horns.
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MOZ_2022_08_Notorious rhino kingpin Navara under arrest in Mozambique_Oxpeckers.pdf | 562.74 KB |
Authorities in Democratic Republic of Congo have seized $3.5 million worth of ivory, rhinoceros horn and pangolin scales in a joint operation with United States officials, the U.S. embassy in Kinshasa said on Monday. Two wildlife traffickers were also arrested in the United States on Nov. 4, following a more than two-year investigation between the two countries and global police agency Interpol.
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CON_2021_11_Congo seizes us3_5 mln of ivory_rhino horn and pangolin scales_Reuters.pdf | 1.89 MB |
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.
The strict limits on travel, including international travel, imposed in March last year had the happy side effect of keeping poachers at bay. In 2020, 394 rhinos were poached, 30% fewer than the year before and the lowest yearly tally since 2011. But then South Africa began easing international travel restrictions in November. "Since November, December last year and into 2021, this landscape and particularly Kruger National Park has been experiencing serious numbers of rhino poaching incidents," said Jo Shaw, the Africa Rhino Lead for WWF International Network.
For years environmentalists have warned that the biggest threat to the future of rhino populations is the indiscriminate killing of these animals in South Africa's Kruger National Park by organised syndicates infiltrating from neighbouring Mozambique.
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MOZ_2021_03_Mozambiques tough task tackling rhino crimes_Oxpeckers.pdf | 885.56 KB |
Namibia's over-burdened criminal justice system is struggling to keep up with rhino-poaching court cases, some of them delayed by up to six years. Is a special wildlife crime court the answer?
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NAM_2021_02_Calls for a special wildlife crime court in Namibia_Oxpeckers.pdf | 777.04 KB |
Too low, too slow: SA's rhino convictions.
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SA_2021_02_Too low too slow SA s rhino convictions_Oxpeckers.pdf | 349.21 KB |
Zimbabwean police officer Sergeant Tawanda Kwaramba drove from Bulawayo to Victoria Falls on September 16 2019, on a mission to undermine the law he had sworn to uphold. In Victoria Falls he loaded seven Chinese nationals into a stolen car and drove more than 900km to Sango on the border with Mozambique. From Sango border post, the Chinese nationals - Zeng Dengui, Peicon Jang, Liu Cheng, Yu Xian, Yong Zhiu, Cheng Zhiang and Qui Jinchang - were driven across south-central Mozambique to Maputo and the safety of a Chinese fishing boat that was due to sail them home.
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Oxpeckers_2020-01_The perfect rhino crime_Oxpeckers.pdf | 676.23 KB |
Rhino poaching fell 63% year-on-year in Namibia, the ministry of environment said on Friday, citing intensified intelligence operations by authorities and tougher sentences and fines for poachers.
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NAM_2020-08_Rhino poaching in Namibia down 63 percent on tougher policing penalties_Reuters.pdf | 358.49 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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |