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Members of anti-poaching units are sometimes involved in poaching or trafficking themselves, a latest report shows. This is according to a protection and law-enforcement report released by the Ministry of Environment, Forestry and Tourism last week. Moreover, the report says 83 people have been arrested in connection with poaching and conspiring to poach rhinos and committing other wildlife crimes last year. It states that 39 people were arrested after pre-emptive investigations in 2023, while follow-up investigations related to rhino poaching have led to 44 arrests.

The South African Police Service (SAPS) said in a statement that Letswele was first arrested on December 8, 2022, and later released on bail. This is after Ermelo police received a tip-off about a Toyota double cab carrying rhino horns and firearms. When police stopped the vehicle, Letswele and his co-accused Junior Jorge Chauke, 42, tried to flee, but were quickly caught. A search of the vehicle revealed four rhino horns hidden in the bonnet, valued at R876,000. Despite being released on bail, Letswele continued his illegal activities.

Two suspects appeared in the Bronkhorstspruit Magistrate's Court in Gauteng on charges of possession of endangered species. This follows the arrest of two suspects, aged 43 and 45, on Friday, June 28. The provincial police spokesperson Captain Tintswalo Sibeko said an operation was conducted by the Cullinan Stock Theft and Endangered Species (STES) Unit successfully dismantled the endangered species trafficking operation.

Officials said up to eight elephants had been killed and there is a likelihood the incidents happened in the nearby parks. Elephant tusks fetch a fortune in the black market as a surge in demand for ivory in the East continues to fuel the illicit trade in elephant tusks, especially from Africa.

On June 3, a man was arrested at the Bangui Mpoko Airport in the Central African Republic (CAR) for illegal transport of ivory. This is the second case of ivory smuggling in Bangui in the span of just one week. The arrested man is a Central African Citizen who didn’t have any identity document with him despite his intention to travel abroad. The police confiscated several suitcases filled to the brim with ivory from this Central African citizen.

There was barely a dry eye in the Kwale courtroom last Monday afternoon, June 10th, 2024, when Augustine Odwori Malingo and Nancy Akoth Owino were sentenced by Principal Magistrate Lillian Lewa. They had been found guilty of possession of wildlife trophies that included 4 ivory tusk pieces weighing 500 grammes and 1 hippo tooth weighing a similar amount from their 2019 arrest.

On May 31, 2024, the Special Court of Libreville will open a correctional hearing to try several individuals involved in an international ivory trafficking network connecting Gabon, Cameroon, and Nigeria. This complex case highlights the challenges of fighting poaching in Central Africa.

A rhino conservationist has turned to the world of non-fungible tokens to help fund efforts to keep poachers at bay.

Prophet Jackson Babi has been remanded in custody again after High Court Judge Harald January dismissed his bail appeal. The judge did not make available the full judgment, saying it will only be available later after it has been edited. Babi has been in custody since last year after he was arrested on poaching charges.

Judgement in the matter where Prophet Jackson Babi is appealing a decision that denied him bail will be handed own later this week. Babi is appealing a judgment handed down by a magistrate in the lower court.

A Namibian Defense Force (NDF) member and a police officer currently stationed at the Etosha national park were arrested last night after they were found in the possession of rhino horns in Oshikango. Speaking to Informanté, Ohangwena Regional Crime Coordinator Sakaria Amakali said that the two suspected poachers were arrested in a sting operation following a tip off. The value of the horns is not yet known. "The two suspects will only be charged today and appear in the Ohangwena court tomorrow," Amakali stated.

Prophet Jackson Babi has lodged an appeal against a ruling in which a Magistrate denied him bail, saying that the presiding officer misdirected himself when he made the ruling. The appeal was scheduled for hearing in the Windhoek High court today, but will only be heard on 23 June 2021. Babi was arrested on poaching charges and possession of a cellphone while in police custody, as well as bribery. In his heads of argument, Babi claims that during the bail application, no evidence was provided to show he would interfere with investigations if he is granted bail.

A decision on whether or not Windhoek self proclaimed Prophet, Jackson Babi, will be granted bail will be heard on Friday at the Windhoek Magistrate's Court. Babi was arrested last year on poaching and bribery charges. On the bribery charge, Babi and one Ananias Ananias are alleged to have attempted to offer a police officer N$13 000 to make the charges against Babi in the poaching case disappear.

A man suspected of being a poacher, 27-year-old Claudius Hameva, was fatally shot at a game farm around Okakarara earlier this morning following a scuffle between him and the farm's security guard.

Prophet Jackson Babi and another man, Ananias Ananias, who stand accused of attempting to bribe a police officer, are expected to make another court appearance next month in connection with the charges. The two men briefly appeared in the Windhoek Magistrate’s Court on bribery charges after it was alleged that they offered a police officer N$13 000 to make the charges against Babi disappear.

An attempt by Prophet Jackson Babi to bribe the detective investigating poaching charges against him to bear false testimony in court during his formal bail application, has caused the man of God to sink deeper into legal trouble. Besides an amount of N$13 000 in cash police officers searching the cells during the past weekend also found two mobile phones in the possession of the accused persons while they were incarcerated at the Windhoek Police Station which added even more charges to the accused persons’ charge sheets.

A CIVIL servant in the employ of the Ministry of Education, Arts and Culture was arrested early on Wednesday morning after he attempted to flee from police who was tracking his movements because of his involvement in elephant poaching. The arrest of the education minister official follows an intricate undercover tracking operation launched by the Namibian Police and officials from the Ministry of Environment and Tourism in the Zambezi Region. Zambezi Regional Crime Coordinator, Deputy Commissioner Evans Simasiku told Informanté in an exclusive interview that the suspect…

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.

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.

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.

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.