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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4 ivory traffickers arrested with 3 tusks in Congo in a crackdown on judicial corruption. One of them is the head clerk of the high court of Dolisie who used his position to traffic seized ivory from the court’s evidence room. He was denounced by the other traffickers and a raid was carried out his home the following morning when he arrested. Two of the tusks bear markings corresponding to our operation from 2021. This is an important step in combatting corruption in the judicial system. 2 traffickers arrested with 3 elephant tusks, 41 ivory statues, and 13 hippo teeth in Togo.…
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AFR_2024_10_Wildlife law enforcement briefing_EAGLE Network.pdf | 235.2 KB |
The country has recorded a decrease in arrests related to the poaching of rhinos, elephants, and pangolins, but authorities say more work is needed to combat the ongoing threat from international poaching syndicates. Speaking at a handover of donated vehicles last week, the Minister of Environment, Forestry, and Tourism, Pohamba Shifeta said combined arrests for rhino and elephant poaching dropped from 143 last year to 91 this year. Pangolin-related crimes also saw a decline, with 30 cases recorded this year compared to 60 last year, Shifeta added.
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NAM_2024_10_Wildlife poaching arrests decline_Namibia Economist.pdf | 1.17 MB |
A total of 46 rhinos, including 35 black and 11 white rhinos, have been killed in the Etosha National Park by poachers so far in 2024, minister of Environment, Forestry and Tourism Pohamba Shifeta has said. He made the announcement in the capital last week during the donation of 22 vehicles and information technology (IT) equipment, valued at N$19.8 million to the ministry by the Integrated Wildlife Protection Project. The donation was co-financed by the German state-owned KfW Development Bank.
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NAM_2024_10_46 Ethosha rhinos poached in 2024_New Era Namibia.pdf | 189.9 KB |
A dehydrated pangolin was rescued from the captivity of alleged traffickers in Morningside at the end of September. Sandton SPCA's senior inspector Ronald Ramalata acted swiftly following being tipped-off about the endangered animal on September 29.
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SA_2024_10_Pangolin rescued by Sandton SPCA in Morningside_Sandton Chronicle.pdf | 156.39 KB |
The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) has taken another bold step in the global fight against wildlife trafficking, seizing 9,493 kg of pangolin scales in one of the largest wildlife crime busts in recent years. The Comptroller General of Customs (CGC), Adewale Adeniyi, disclosed these developments at a press briefing held at the Customs Training College in Lagos on Wednesday, 16 October 2024, as part of the service’s ongoing enforcement activities.
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NIG_2024_10_Customs seizes 9493 kg of Pangolin Scales_Vanguard.pdf | 92.63 KB |
Two Botswana nationals, Rhine Morgan Kemsley, 35, and Mothusi Malcom Lefa, 49, suspected of illegally possessing and dealing pangolin, an endangered species, have had their day in court. An all-encompassing law enforcement team, according to Captain Lloyd Ramovha of the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (Hawks), made the arrest.
A six-year jail sentence for a man who smuggled 1 100 Emperor scorpions, 42 Bell's hingeback tortoises and a water lizard. Seventeen years imprisonment for elephant poachers in the Kruger National Park. A 10-year jail sentence for a pangolin poacher.
Three Namibian male suspects aged 26, 30 and 33 are due in court after they were arrested on Saturday night in Kavango West for illegal possession of a live pangolin and two elephant tusks.
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NAM_2022_08_Three nabbed for elephant tusks_New Era.pdf | 413.3 KB |
There is growing concern that Nigeria, in recent years, has become a primary transit hub for several illicit wildlife and forest products.
DCI detectives based at the Serious Crimes Unit on Tuesday arrested three suspects in Kinango, Kwale County, after being found in possession of a male pangolin.
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NIG_2022_08_DCI arrests 3 suspects found in possession of pangolin in Kwale_The Star.pdf | 505.61 KB |
Despite huge seizures, Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) is still battling smugglers from China, Vietnam and some South East Asian countries using Nigerian ports and porous borders as transit hub for the transshipment of pangolin scales and ivory. Shipments of pangolin scales intercepted and reported by Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) between 2010 and September 2021 has been put at 190,407 kilogrammes. It was gathered that some seizures in ports of Hong Kong, China, Vietnam and other parts of South East Asia valued at $1.5 billion were traced to Nigeria.
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NIG_2022_08_Breaking yoke of illegal wildlife trafficking_Journal of African Elephants.pdf | 228.58 KB |
The Nigeria Customs Service, in collaboration with Wildlife Justice Commission (WJC), has intercepted 397.5 Kilogramme of pangolin scales and arrested 8 suspects in connection with the seizure.
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NIG_2022_08_Nigeria Customs intercepts 397kg of Pangolin scales_arrests 8 suspects_The Guardian.pdf | 422.35 KB |