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The case involving four Chinese men accused of smuggling 14 rhino horns worth more than N$2 million out of Namibia has been postponed to today. Li Zhibing, Li Xiaoliang and Pu Xuexin were caught with 14 rhino horns worth N$2.3 million as well as a leopard skin worth about N$50 000 in their luggage on March 24 last year at Hosea Kutaku International Airport. Wang Hui was arrested later this year at the Windhoek Country Club and Resort. 

One of the Chinese men arrested for trying to smuggle 14 rhino horns worth more than N$2 million out of Namibia has taken full culpability for the crime, saying his three co-accused knew nothing about it. The trial started yesterday at the Regional Court in Katutura. Li Zhibing pleaded guilty to the unlawful export or attempt to export rhino horns and a leopard skin.

One of the Chinese men accused of trying to smuggle 14 rhino horns out of Namibia in March last year admitted yesterday that he knew he was carrying controlled wildlife products in two suitcases which he was planning to take to China.

A 10-month-long investigation by John Grobler uncovers the political and commercial agendas driving the world’s largest black rhino population towards extinction.

The police are determined to get to the bottom of the rhino poaching problem regardless of the status of the people involved, Commissioner Ndahangwapo Kashihakumwa, who is leading an anti-poaching operation in the Etosha National Park and surrounding areas in Omusati and Kunene, has warned. On Wednesday, a team of investigating officers was sent from pillar to post by three suspected poachers who had pledged to give their full cooperation to the police.

International tourism to Africa reached record levels in 2013, with 56 million tourists bringing in N$410 billion. Significantly, 80% of them came to see the continent's wildlife. This valuable economic injection could increase by 10% a year – provided poachers don't wipe out the iconic species that safari goers travel here to see.

The Tourism minister has accused some traditional leaders and businesspeople of being used as middlemen by poaching syndicates.

Government yesterday condemned the random shooting of Namibian citizens suspected of being poachers at the Botswana border, saying the authorities in that country are too quick to pull the trigger.

The police have made significant progress in their investigation of the recently discovered mass killings of rhino in the Etosha National Park. The death toll is expected to rise, if information at the sites of buried carcasses prove to be correct. A large number of suspects have been arrested and the list includes employees within the park. The Oshana police regional commander, Commissioner Ndahangwapo Kashihakumwa, is heading a team of investigators permanently deployed in Etosha since June 1.

Poachers should be ashamed of themselves for killing innocent animals, said deputy minister of environment and tourism Tommy Nambahu. Just a week ago, Nambahu explained that the ministry was aware that local people are being used in the poaching of elephants and rhinos. "Shame on them for doing what they are doing to innocent animals. I have never heard of a rhino destroying a mahangu field or killing anyone. Why must it be killed because someone wants its parts?" he asked.

The Kunene Region has been free of rhino poaching for nearly five months. This was revealed by Save the Rhino Trust (SRT) Namibia chief operating officer, Dr Axel Hartmann, during a debate about legalising the trade in rhino horns in Namibia.

The three Chinese men accused of trying to smuggle 14 rhinoceros horns out of Namibia in March last year could be joined in the dock by a compatriot, after another suspect was arrested in connection with their case this week. The fourth suspect to be arrested about the alleged attempt to smuggle rhino horns and a leopard skin out of Namibia on 24 March last year is a 40-year-old Chinese resident of Otjiwarongo, Wang Hui, who was apprehended in Windhoek on Monday evening.

There has been a major breakthrough with the arrest of a Chinese man whom the police believe to be the kingpin in one of Namibia’s biggest rhino-horn smuggling cases. Wang Huii was arrested on Monday at the Windhoek Country Club and has been charged with the possession and export of controlled wildlife products. He appeared in the Windhoek Regional Court in Katutura yesterday. The 40-year-old Huii is being linked to the three Chinese men who were arrested with 14 rhino horns last year at the Hosea Kutaku International Airport.

Deputy minister of environment and tourism Tommy Nambahu says his ministry is aware that local people are being used in the poaching of elephants and rhinos. He said this during a sponsorship handover by the Environmental Investment Fund (EIF) of Namibia to the Ministry of Environment and Tourism, and the wildlife crime prevention unit of the Namibian police force yesterday.

The Namibian police are investigating a case of illegal hunting of protected game, after two white rhinoceroses were found dead at the weekend. The rhino carcasses were found at Farm Okamahoro, situated approximately 30 kilometres west of Okahandja in the Otjozondjupa region. The game farm is a privately owned commercial entity, farming with game like rhinos.

Another two white rhinos have been poached on a game farm near Okahandja, pushing the number of rhino carcasses that have been discovered in Namibia this year up to 62. Police spokesperson Inspector Slogan Matheus yesterday confirmed that two white rhinos were discovered on farm Okamahoro in the Snyrivier District. The game farm is situated approximately 30km outside of Okahandja.

Last year Namibia lost 24 rhinos to poaching. For the first four months of this year, 60 rhino carcasses have already been found. If that is not a crisis, what is?

Suspects have been identified in the ongoing Etosha National Park poaching spree and arrests are expected soon. This is according to Tourism and Environment Minister Pohamba Shifeta, who also announced that the reward money for information leading to the arrest of the poachers had been doubled from N$30 000 to N$60 000. The minister said there had already been breakthroughs in the north-eastern regions, including Zambezi, where six suspects had been arrested.

The probe into poaching in the Etosha National Park, where 54 rhino carcasses have been found this year alone, will include investigating rumours of the possible involvement of park staff and management. "Everything will be investigated and no stone will be left unturned. I have already seen two problems and that is the negligence of staff and the other suspicions could be very serious," said Environment and Tourism Minister Pohamba Shifeta.