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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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 |
Parties of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (Cites) can and must do more to address the dire impacts of the global illegal pangolin trade A new briefing document outlines the Environmental Investigation Agency's (EIA) findings and recommendations on key issues relating to global illegal pangolin trade. EIA says that following decades of overexploitation due to international trade, in 2016 all eight pangolin species were uplisted from Appendix II to Appendix I to Cites.
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NAM_2021_09_Cites must take action on illegal pangolin trade_Namibian Sun.pdf | 394.6 KB |
In a separate case, another Namibian national Ignasius Mbaraka was arrested at Outjo on 17 September, also in connection with an old case for conspiring to hunt a rhino. The case dates back to June when a rhino carcass and a vehicle were confiscated. He has been charged with the illegal hunting of specially protected game and for conspiring to hunt specially protected game. He is also a Namibian. Meanwhile, Namibian Alberto Johannes Joel was arrested on 12 September in Otavi for being in the possession of a pangolin. The case was not reported last week.
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NAM_2021_09_Three arrested for wildlife crimes_Namibian Sun.pdf | 197.69 KB |
Three men have been arrested in connection with wildlife crime, Ministry of Environment, Forestry and Tourism spokesperson Romeo Muyunda said in a weekly wildlife crime report on Wednesday. According to the report, Alberto Johannes Joel was arrested on 12 September this year at Otavi in the Otjozondjupa region. He was reportedly found in possession of a live pangolin. Another suspect, Ignasius Mbaraka Mutunda, was arrested in connection with a June 2020 case when he was allegedly found in possession of a rhino carcass. He was arrested on Friday at Outjo in the Kunene region.
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NAM_2021_09_Three arrested for wildlife crime_The Namibian.pdf | 318.77 KB |
The Chief Resident Magistrate Court in Lilongwe has set 27 September, 2021, as the day for delivering judgement against a Chinese national, Yunhua Lin, who is answering charges of money laundering and rhino horn trafficking. Lin came to Malawi as an investor like many do but without proper screening and vetting, the country let in a criminal who is destroying our current and future economy. Lin is a member of one of Southern Africa’s most prolific wildlife trafficking syndicates, which has been operating out of Malawi for at least a decade.