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The vigilance of a Springbok SAPS K9 team led to the arrest of three suspects found in possession of rhino horns and protected plants in the Northern Cape town.

Two suspected poachers were at the weekend arrested while in possession of six pieces of elephant tusks in Tigania East, Meru county. They had wrapped the tusks weighing 18.5 kilos in four sacks when police and Kenya Wildlife Service officials intercepted them. Police said the two were nabbed at Muriamburi Junction Mulika area on July 18, as they transported the same to a potential buyer aboard a motorcycle. The suspects will be charged with being in possession of wildlife trophies of endangered species, contrary to Section 92(4) of the Wildlife Conservation Management Act 2013…

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.

Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) officers have arrested two men with 10 pieces of elephant tusks weighing 89 kilogrammes valued at Sh8.9 million. The officers from Mwingi, accompanied by a KWS covert team from the headquarters in Nairobi were acting on intelligence information. The officers intercepted the vehicle the two were in at around 1 pm. KWS said one of the suspects, who was driving the vehicle, was an officer with a government agency.

Five suspects in Limpopo have been arrested for rhino poaching and illegal trades if elephant tusks. According to Sowetan Live, Col Malesela Ledwaba, police spokesperson, stated that the men were apprehended by the endangered species unit and wildlife security on Thursday. The five men who four of them are reported to be foreigners and one South African are expected to appear at the Letsitele and Maake magistrates’ court.

Katima Mulilo - Three individuals, Nyambe Calvin Matomola, John Mwelwa, and Nziye Lusinyize, have been brought before the Katima Mulilo Magistrate's Court for alleged possession of controlled wildlife products. The trio was apprehended with a total of 39 elephant tusks, leading to their court appearance on Tuesday. Ministry of Environment, Forestry and Tourism spokesperson, Romeo Muyunda, revealed that Matomola, along with seven Zambian nationals, was caught with 24 tusks after smuggling them into Namibia via the Zambezi Region.

The Ministry of Environment, Forestry and Tourism (MEFT) has recorded a total of 18 pangolin skins, 12 live pangolins and 146 pangolin scales that were confiscated between September and November this year. This is according to the ministry's spokesperson Romeo Muyunda, who in a press statement on Monday said as a result 23 criminal cases have been registered and 38 suspects arrested.

A 29-year-old Tanzanian woman is set to appear in the Opuwo Magistrate's court on Thursday for a bail application, in connection with the alleged trafficking of protected plant species. The Ministry of Environment, Forestry and Tourism (MEFT) spokesperson Romeo Muyunda in a media statement on Monday said Diana Mashiku was arrested alongside Namibians, Veisiruaije Tjavara (25), Jennifer Simataa (37) and Tjivinda Unatavi (31) for being in possession of 46 Adenia pechuelii plants, which they allegedly harvested from the wild without a permit.

Three poachers were caught red-handed with a hunting rifle fitted with a silencer and ammunition in the Kruger National Park (KNP). According to KNP spokesperson Isaac Phaahla, the arrests were made in the Stolznek Section on Tuesday. In the first six months of 2023 a total of 231 rhinos were killed in South Africa at an average of just under 1.3 rhinos per day.

Two men were on Saturday arrested at Farm Kenilworth in the Otjozondjupa Region, after being found in possession of protected game meat valued at N.dollars 22 000.

A suspect has been arrested after being found with two endangered pangolins inside his home in Kuruman in the Northern Cape.

Lion bones are used to replace tiger bones in fortified tiger wine and Traditional Chinese Medicines. Lion bones are also carved into jewellery. South Africa's legal trade of lion bones to Asia has opened up a fast growing illegal trade of the animal carcass. On Friday, a 43 year old man was arrested for the illegal possession of lion bones destined for Asia.

A 32-year-old poacher, Freedom Siyabonga Ndlovu, was sentenced to 32 years of direct imprisonment for offences related to poaching by the Skukuza Regional Court. The accused had a hand in the killing of three rhinos.

This past weekend, police have seized large quantities of abalone in the Eastern Cape and Free State with both consignments allegedly heading to Bloemfontein. In the latest arrest, a 46-year-old suspect was apprehended and police recovered abalone worth over R1 million.

Four men were arrested for allegedly attempting to sell two endangered pangolins for R200 000 in Mahikeng, North West.

The tusks had a street value of more than Sh8 million, officials said In Summary: Despite a ban on the international trade in ivory, African elephants are still being poached in large numbers; As part of efforts to stop the crime, Kenya has started using high-tech surveillance equipment including drones to track poaching gangs. Two men including a Tanzanian national were arrested while transporting 81.7 kilograms of elephant tusks in Mukaa area, Makueni County.

Police arrested 26-year-old man on the N6 Road with 16 refuse bags filled with abalone.

In an unrelated incident, an integrated operation led to the arrest of two suspects in Gansbaai on Friday, 17 February 2023. The team set up a vehicle checkpoint on the R43 between Gansbaai and Stanford and stopped a suspicious minibus taxi. They searched the vehicle and the occupants and confiscated 3608 units of abalone. This has an estimated to have a street value of R1.4 million.

The four men who were arrested at Okahandja on Sunday and Monday for alleged possession of an elephant tusk, are set to appear in the magistrate’s court at the town this week. Namibian Police Force spokesperson in the Otjozondjupa Region, Inspector Maureen Mbeha in an interview with Nampa on Tuesday said three male suspects aged 23, 28, and 29 were arrested Sunday morning at a restaurant in Okahandja, where they allegedly intended to sell the elephant tusk to a local buyer.

A 47-year-old accused will appear in the Kabokweni Magistrate Court on Tuesday, 7 February 2023, after his DNA was linked to rhino horns found during a search and seizure operation.

The police in the Eastern Cape are searching for poachers who shot, killed, and dehorned two rhinos on a safari farm in Paterson on Wednesday evening, 1 February.

A man died in a shootout with officers from the Namibian Police Force (NamPol) Wildlife Protection Unit after allegedly being caught in a rhino poaching incident at farm Okarakua in the Windhoek district on Saturday. A crime report issued yesterday by NamPol said the deceased, whose age is unknown, was one of three suspects who were allegedly attempting to kill a rhino cow and its calf around 17h40. Another suspect aged 27 was apprehended and seriously injured in the process, while the third suspect fled the scene. He was however arrested yesterday, it said.

Two men were arrested at Mutengo village in the Kavango West Region on Wednesday after they were reportedly found in possession of a python skin valued at N.dollars 30 000.

Police said four women are in custody for the possession of lion cubs they were selling in Boksburg North.

A member of the Namibian Police Force's (NamPol) Protected Resources Unit (PRU) in the Otjozondjupa Region, who is accused of the alleged theft of a rhino horn placed under his care, secured bail on Thursday. Magistrate Peingondjabi Shipo granted the 45-year-old Sergeant Salatiel Simon bail of N.dollars 10 000, on condition that the accused does not leave the district of Otjiwarongo without informing police officers involved in the investigations of his case.

Rhino poaching is driven by the demand for rhino horn in Asian countries. In Summary: They were arrested in September last year with a firearm and ammunition at a game farm with the aim of slaughtering rhinos to extract their horns for commercial purposes. This is the second time that a hunter of a protected species has been sentenced to 30 years in prison.

The rhino horn that reportedly went missing while in the care of a 45-year-old police officer at Otjiwarongo between 30 September and 03 October this year, has been recovered in Angola.

Namibia is experiencing a surge in poaching, with the number of poached rhinoceros rising to 48 this year, Ministry of Environment, Forestry and Tourism spokesperson Romeo Muyunda said Wednesday. In a statement, Muyunda said of the poached rhinoceros, 32 were black rhinoceros and 16 were white rhinoceros.

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.

Kwale police have arrested two men who were illegally in possession of a pangolin. The two were nabbed at Malomani area in Samburu sub-county.

An adult male, suspected to be a poacher, was shot and killed on Sunday afternoon at Farm Salzbrunnen near Kombat in the Otjozondjupa Region, allegedly during an exchange of gunfire with two farmworkers patrolling the farm.Namibian Police Force.

Five people were arrested in Midrand, Gauteng for pangolin trafficking and contravening the National Environmental Management-Biodiversity (NEMBA) Act. The Hawks pounced on the suspects after receiving a tip-off.

Both of the convicted rhino poachers had entered the Kruger National Park, and one of them was found to be in the country illegally.

Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (Hawks) spokesperson in the Western Cape said the elephant ivory dealer entered into a plea agreement with the State. The court sentenced Ziwande, 38, to "a fine of R10 000 wholly suspended for five years" for the offence, said Hani. He pleaded guilty to one charge under the Contravention of Section 42(1)(b). Ziwande was arrested on 14 May 2021, after the police’s Crime Intelligence provided the Hawks’ Serious Organised Crime Investigation team in Cape Town with a tip-off.

The charge sheet says the tusks weighed three kilograms, worth Sh300,000.

A 25-year-old man was convicted and sentenced by Kuruman Regional Court after trying to sell a pangolin for R200 000.

Swift justice has been meted out for this unfortunate smuggler on Wednesday, after he was promptly arrested at OR Tambo for being in possession of no more than eleven separate rhino horn packages.

Two suspected poachers were on Thursday arrested in Korinda junction in Busia county. Police acted on a tip-off from members of the public and nabbed the two men, 60-year-old Mohamed Abbas and a 70-year-old Paul Wafula Njoka. The suspects were using a motorbike with registration number KMEV721N in their operation. The police recovered the haul after conducting a search. They took them as exhibits together with the motorbike. The two suspects were taken to Busia Police station as they wait to be arraigned to answer to charges.

A rhino horn trader has been sentenced to 14 years in jail, the longest ever prison term a Vietnamese court has handed down for the crime, a local conservation group said on Wednesday. Vietnam is both a consumption hub and popular transit point for the multi-billion-dollar trade in animal parts. Authorities have long vowed to stem the flow of illegal wildlife crisis-crossing its borders, but experts have warned the black market persists thanks to weak law enforcement.

A 29-year-old man was arrested on Monday morning after allegedly being found in possession of a protected wildlife product at Rundu in the Kavango East Region. The Namibian Police Force's Chief Inspector in the Kavango East Region, Melanie Mburu told Nampa on Tuesday that the suspect was found in possession of a pangolin skin at Rundu's Ngandu Lodge at around 11h30.

The 38-year-old poacher was sentenced to 19 years behind bars after a white rhinoceros was killed in Lower Sabie in 2014.

An official from the North West Department of Economic Development, Environment, Conservation and Tourism will appear in the Mmabatho Magistrate’s Court on Monday 11 October after he was arrested in connection with illegal rhino horn trade. The official and the owner of a security company were arrested on Thursday afternoon in relation to alleged contraventions of the National Environmental Management: Biodiversity Act, the Rhino Norms and Standards, and contravention of permit conditions.

Kenya Wildlife Service wardens in Laikipia on Wednesday evening arrested four suspected poachers and recovered four pieces of elephant ivories weighing 76 kilogrammes.

A 34-year old policeman is recovering in hospital after he was shot and injured during a shootout with rhino poachers in Vredefort in the Free State on Tuesday night.

At least 249 rhinos were killed in the first six months of this year in South Africa. The bulk of the killings happened at the Kruger National Park, where 132 rhinos were killed.

Members of the Hawks Organised Investigation Unit searched a vehicle and found rhino horns that suspects were attempting to sell. "The pair were arrested during a buy and bust operation where they allegedly attempted to sell the horns. The suspects' vehicle was searched and two rhino horns worth approximately R2.4 million were found," Rikhotso said.

The two men who were allegedly found with a freshly removed elephant tusk in their possession at Gam in the Tsumkwe Constituency Saturday night, were on Monday remanded in police custody at Tsumkwe. The 23-year-old Karuhava Kahaka and Vekotokeraije Keharara, 38, appeared in the Tsumkwe Periodical Court on Monday on charges of dealing in and/or possession of a prohibited game product.

A freshly removed elephant tusk was on Saturday night seized from two men who allegedly tried to sell it to an undercover police officer at Gam settlement in the Tsumkwe Constituency.

The Skukuza Regional Court has handed down a stiff sentence to a 34- year-old man from Mozambique who was recently convicted of several poaching related crimes including the illegal hunting and killing of rhino.

The suspected ivory smuggler from Alberton is facing the full might of the law this week, after two elephant tusks were found in his possession.