Search results

A Chinese businessman was sentenced to 10 years in prison or alternatively pay N$100 000 for the illegal possession of protected wildlife specimen in the Opuwo magistrate court on Monday.

The head of the Namibian Police, Inspector-General Sebastian Ndeitunga, said he would dismiss with contempt any claim that the government does not have a real commitment to root out the poaching of Namibia’s wildlife. “Cabinet has allocated a lot of resources to combat and eradicate poaching. It is a costly exercise. This is an indication of how serious government is,” he stressed. Ndeitunga said it is clear that the poaching of rhinos and elephants in Namibian national parks is a well-orchestrated and well-funded transnational organised crime.

The Ministry of Environment and Tourism and the Namibian Police have requested evidence from Namibia Media Holdings (NMH) as well as the executive director of Namrights, Phil ya Nangoloh, to substantiate allegations of political leaders’ involvement in rhino and elephant poaching. At a joint press briefing on Wednesday, Minister Pohamba Shifeta and police chief Inspector-General Sebastian Ndeitunga requested ya Nangoloh to submit the said evidence before the end of December.

Environment minister Pohamba Shifeta says he is not aware of any ministers or former members of parliament involved in poaching. Meanwhile, police Inspector General Sebastian Ndeitunga says he cannot deny that ministers or members of parliament were involved in poaching, but he wanted to know who they are so he can lay his hands on them. The minister and the police chief were reacting to reports in the Namibian Sun that NamRights executive director Phil ya Nangoloh had allegedly submitted a report to Ndeitunga in which political leaders are accused of involvement in…

The trial of four Chinese citizens accused of having tried to smuggle two suitcases containing rhino horns out of Namibia in March last year is scheduled to continue in the Windhoek Regional Court next month.

The State has closed its case in Namibia’s biggest rhino horn smuggling trial to date, in which four Chinese nationals stand accused of trying to smuggle 14 rhino horns out of the country. Li Xiaoliang, Li Zhibing, Pu Xuexin and Wang Hui appeared in the Windhoek Regional Court in Katutura last week for the continuation of their trial. They were arrested for allegedly trying to smuggle rhino horns worth more than N$2.3 million and a leopard skin valued at N$50 000 out of Namibia. The items were found in two luggage bags at the Hosea Kutako International Airport on March 24 last…

The State has suffered a huge blow in a rhino smuggling case, after the Windhoek Regional Court in Katutura ruled that the evidence three of the four accused gave in their bail hearings cannot be used in their trial. Li Xiaoliang, Li Zhibing, Pu Xuexin, whose bail evidence was ruled on, appeared with Wang Hui yesterday. They were arrested for trying to smuggle 14 rhino horns worth more than N$2.3 million and a leopard skin worth N$50 000 out of Namibia last year.

The State and the defence have locked horns over the constitutional right of the accused not to incriminate themselves, in a landmark rhino horn smuggling trial involving Chinese nationals, whose families are reportedly blissfully unaware of their legal troubles in Namibia. Li Xiaoliang, Li Zhibing, Pu Xuexin and Wang Hui appeared yesterday in the Windhoek Regional Court in Katutura. They have been arrested for trying to smuggle 14 rhino horns worth more than N$2.3 million and a leopard skin of N$50 000 out of Namibia last year.

Police Inspector-General Sebastian Ndeitunga has called for the establishment of a database of all trespassers in national parks and nature reserves to establish whether there are links with poachers and possible buyers of rhino horns and elephant tusks. Ndeitunga made these remarks at the Etosha National Park while addressing Heads of Criminal Investigation, Operations, Special Branch and Special Field Force Directorates as well as regional commanders from the Oshana, Oshikoto, Omusati, Kunene and Otjozondjupa regions.

The Ministry of Environment and Tourism has announced that 31 rhino carcasses have been found since April 8. In a statement issued over the weekend, Permanent Secretary Simeon Negumbo said the illegal hunting of rhino in Namibia must be brought under control rapidly. Negumbo said an investigation was under way to determine the cause of the deaths, as some carcasses were old and still had their horns.

The threat looming over Namibia's rhinoceros population is even bigger than previously thought, with 38 rhino carcasses having been discovered in the Etosha National Park so far this year. The Ministry of Environment and Tourism announced in a media statement on Friday that another 31 rhino carcasses have been found in the Etosha National Park since 8 April.

The Ministry of Environment and Tourism (MET) said on Friday that a total of 31 rhino carcasses were discovered in the Etosha National Park during the course of last week. Most of the carcasses were found in the western part of Etosha.

An independent investigator found no evidence of suspicions of any of the Save the Rhino Trust Namibia (SRT) staff being involved in poaching, according to an official SRT statement released on Wednesday. Last December the SRT launched an internal investigation in response to newspaper reports that alleged that its staff was involved in rhino poaching in the Kunene region.

Suspicious accounts amounting to N$329 million were halted by the Financial Intelligence Centre (FIC) last year in the ongoing battle against money laundering. The possible offences that were identified during the analyses of the reports included corruption, fraud, tax evasion, contravention of exchange control regulations, rhino poaching, theft, diamond smuggling, illegal scams and illegal casino gambling.

Namibia continues losing rhinoceroses and elephants to the greed of poachers, with seven carcasses of poached rhinos having been discovered in the Etosha National Park so far this year. The discovery of the carcasses of seven poached rhinos in the Etosha National Park since the start of this year brings the number of rhinos killed by poachers in Namibia's premier wildlife refuge since October last year up to 11, the permanent secretary in the Ministry of Environment and Tourism, Simeon Negumbo, announced in a media statement on Friday.

The escalation of rhino and elephant poaching in Namibia continues unabated, with yet another case reported at the weekend. This follows the discovery of an elephant carcass in a village located in the Bwabwata National Park in the Kavango East Region.

While several new cases of rhino poaching have been discovered in Namibia the new Minister of Environment and Tourism, Pohamba Shifeta, says he will not tolerate complacency from staff members, especially in areas where repeated poaching is happening. Five rhino carcases were discovered about two weeks ago during a rhino dehorning exercise in the Kunene Region. Four of these rhinos had been poached, the ministry confirmed. The rhinos were presumably shot last year already and the carcasses were found in the area of Omatendeka.