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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Two men have been arrested for trying to sell elephant tusks worth R200,000 in Limpopo. The suspects, brothers Peter and Phanuel Mokgalaka, were caught during a police sting in Selwane Village outside Phalaborwa on Wednesday. The operation was led by the Hawks in Limpopo, with help from the Sani Sand Nature Reserve and the Kruger National Park's Environmental Crime Investigation unit. Police got a tip-off that the men were selling ivory. Officers contacted them and pretended to be buyers. The brothers agreed to meet the supposed buyers in Selwane.
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SA_2025_07_South Africa_Brothers caught with elephant tusks worth R200_000_All Africa.pdf | 67.05 KB |
The leaders of a prolific Chinese wildlife trafficking gang have been pardoned in Malawi, sparking concern that renewed poaching will help spread diseases including coronaviruses. Lin Yunhua and his wife Qin Hua Zhang, who led the notorious Lin-Zhang syndicate that operated across southern Africa, were among 15 people sentenced to jail as part of a major crackdown on ivory trafficking.
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MAL_2025_07_Notorious poaching gang leaders pardoned in Malawi_The Telegraph.pdf | 235.07 KB |
A male elephant has been killed by poachers in Hwange National Park, the Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority (ZimParks) has said. The carcass was discovered in the Main Camp area of the park with one tusk missing and flesh removed from its leg. ZimParks spokesperson Mr Tinashe Farawo said the jumbo might have been dead for about two days at the time of discovery. He said a distinctive shoe spoor was found at the scene, and a joint investigation with the Zimbabwe Republic Police is now underway.
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ZIM_2025_07_Elephant killed in Hwange National Park_Herald Online.pdf | 87.16 KB |
In the wild heart of Africa there is a dwindling group of savannah elephants so traumatised by decades of war, poaching and conflict with humans, that when they see a helicopter, they don't run away, they charge. While the choppers are a means of providing vital conservation measures, such as collaring programmes to monitor under-threat animals for their own protection, these majestic animals have learned to defend themselves in an area so wracked with human conflict it’s been dubbed the "Triangle of Death".
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AFR_2025_07_Desperate bid to save elephants from extinction in Africas triangle of death_Express.pdf | 180.1 KB |
The Criminal Investigation Service (SIC) detained a national citizen for allegedly slaughtering elephants and selling ivory, in the municipality of Dembos, Bengo province, the director of the institutional communication and press office of the SIC-general, informed the Novo Jornal. of criminal investigation Manuel Halaiwa.
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ANG_2021_03_50 year old man arrested for ivory trafficking and elephant slaughter_Novo Jornal.pdf | 195.78 KB |
A 23-year-old villager from Sikabela on the outskirts of Victoria Falls town has been arrested after being found with two elephant tusks. Police and ZimParks rangers trapped Fredrick Ndlovu after getting a tip-off that he was selling the ivory at Lupinyu Business Centre near the Victoria Falls Airport.
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ZIM_2021_03_Villager arrested over elephant tusks_The Chronicle.pdf | 858.7 KB |
Developments in two major ivory trafficking cases in Tanzania are not what conservationists might have hoped for. The conviction of Boniface Mathew Malyango, known as "Shetani Hana Huruma" ("the Devil has no mercy" in Kiswahili), was hailed by conservation organisations as a victory in 2017, with one of East Africa's most notorious illegal ivory traders. However, his conviction was quietly overturned in mid-2020 - a development that was largely unreported in the press.
The police confiscated 110 pangolin scales when they arrested two men at Outapi on 7 March. The two Namibians, Nikodemus Kotekeni Hafeni Nicodemus and Simon Akwenye, were also found in the possession of one pangolin skin.
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NAM_2021_03_110 pangolin scales confiscated at Outapi_Namibian Sun.pdf | 294.36 KB |
The amount of elephant ivory, rhino horn, and pangolin scales intercepted by authorities in 2020 was far less than compared with the previous five years, according to analysis for National Geographic by the Center for Advanced Defense Studies (C4ADS). The coronavirus pandemic likely dampened both the ability of wildlife traffickers to move their products internationally and of law enforcement to detect them, according to the group, a U.S.
A clerk at St George's College in Harare appeared in court after he was arrested in the capital’s suburb of Budiriro, while attempting to trade raw ivory worth US$2 099.
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ZIM_2021_03_St Georges College clerk caught with ivory_The Herald.pdf | 287.27 KB |
Six suspects were arrested in connection with wildlife crimes and five new cases were registered recently, while five wildlife products were seized. Two suspects were arrested for rhino poaching or trafficking. Another suspect was arrested for elephant poaching or trafficking. This is according to information provided by the intelligence and investigation unit within the ministry of environment and tourism and the protection resources division within the safety and security ministry. On 28 February, Muronga Hamutima was arrested at Rundu for being in possession of a pangolin skin…
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NAM_2021_03_Six arrested for wildlife crimes_Namibian Sun.pdf | 278.82 KB |
TWO Karoi villagers have been dragged to court for illegal possession of an elephant tusk valued at US$1 467,10.
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ZIM_2021-03_Elephant Tusk Lands Karoi Villagers In Trouble_New Zimbabwe.pdf | 477.93 KB |
A total of 17 suspects were arrested in connection with wildlife crimes and nine new cases were registered last month, while 21 wildlife products were seized. This is according to information provided by the intelligence and investigation unit within the environment ministry and the protected resources division within the safety and security ministry. Wildlife products confiscated included three pangolin skins, two live pangolins, two elephant tusks, four elephant tusk pieces, two hippo teeth, five lechwe carcasses and a giraffe carcass.
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NAM_2021_03_17 arrested for wildlife crimes last month_Namibain Sun.pdf | 300.62 KB |
Es wurden acht neue Fälle der Wilderei und 14 Verhaftungen in diesem Zusammenhang für die vergangene Februar registriert. Das geht aus einem Statistikbericht des Umweltministeriums und der namibischen Polizei (NamPol) hervor. "Bei einem der Fälle handelt es sich um den illegalen Besitz von jeweils zwei Elefantenstoßzähnen und Nilpferdzähnen. Der Vorfall ereignete sich in Katutura und zwei Verdächtigte wurden verhaftet," so der Bericht. Der zweite Vorfall habe sich in Oshakati zugetragen, wo vier Teile von Stoßzähnen sowie auch Munition beschlagnahmt worden seien.
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NAM_2021_03_Wildtierkriminalitat im Februar_Allgemeine Zeitung.pdf | 321.22 KB |
NAM_2021_03_Wildlife crime in February_Allgemeine Zeitung_Eng.pdf | 319.21 KB |
A member of a notorious poaching gang from Zambia that plies their trade across the borders of three countries was arrested after getting involved in a shootout with a Namibian anti-poaching unit on the banks of Linyanti River. The shootout occurred on the Namibian side of the river last Thursday night and according to reports, one of the gang members was arrested. The suspected poacher is currently being held at the Katima Mulilo Police Station.
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NAM_2021_03_Multinational poacher arrested after firefight_Informante.pdf | 2.44 MB |
One suspected Zambian ivory poacher was arrested and four others escaped when they were ambushed by police in Namibia while trying to cross into wildlife-rich northern Botswana. The poachers were accosted by a Namibian border patrol unit on the Namibian side of the Linyanti River as they tried to cross into the Okavango Delta on Thursday night.