Joint operation nets illegal wildlife trader defenceweb.co.za - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from defenceweb.co.za Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
The arrest of the Vietnamese national and raids on properties in Bela-Bela and Pretoria came after a four-month investigation involving analysts and wildlife investigators.
Invasive species are the third-largest threat to South Africa’s biodiversity after cultivation and land degradation, according to a report released by Forestry, Fisheries and Environmental Affairs Minister Barbara Creecy in Cape Town on Friday.
Sipho Mabena The endangered pangolin. Picture: Michel Bega In what could be the harshest sentence ever in a pangolin poaching case, the Pretoria Magistrate s Court has slapped Orateng Mekwe with 10 years behind bars without the option of a fine. He and co-accused, Jealous Rungano, a Zimbabwean national sentenced to three years in prison, were this week found guilty and sentenced of contravening the National Environmental Management Biodiversity Act. The two also found guilty of carrying out a restricted activity pertaining to the illegal trade of pangolins. Also Read: Breaking down the illegal world of pangolin trafficking and trade Professor Rey Jansen, of the Faculty of Science at.
Picture: Supplied
Six suspects suspected of being part of a pangolin poaching syndicate will appear in the Midrand Magistrate’s Court today after they were caught red-handed with a captured animal earlier this week. On Wednesday, a sting operation lead by the Hawks’ wildlife trafficking team and the Pretoria-based national intervention unit, along with Pangolin Africa, which is attached to the University of Pretoria, and Midrand detectives resulted in the arrest of six suspects at Kyalami Corner. Professor Ray Jansen, the founder of Pangolin Africa, said this was the fourth pangolin bust this year. “The first was in Kempton Park at beginning of.