Four Suspected Poachers Nabbed in Kruger Park

African Eye News Service
February 4, 2003

Sharon Hammond
Skukuza

Four suspected members of a commercial poaching racket in the world famous Kruger National Park have been arrested, announced park spokesman Raymond Travers on Tuesday.

Three months of investigation by Kruger rangers and members of the South African National Parks' corporate investigation service (CIS) led to the arrests in the Stoltznek area near Pretoriuskop rest camp on Sunday night.

"After we were satisfied that we knew their modus operandi, we waited for the ideal time to apprehend the suspects," said Stoltznek area ranger Mr Rob Thomson, whose team has kept an eye on the suspects since November last year.

The investigators watched the group's activities from observation posts on high ground in the Mojolospruit area of the southern Kruger.

On Sunday night, team lay in wait for the suspects.

They didn't have to wait too long as a bakkie-load of poached carcasses soon pulled up.

The team confronted the suspects, two of whom managed to flee on foot. Four others, including the alleged leader, were arrested.

Thomson and his team confiscated the bakkie, six firearms, which included two .22 rifles, one .303 rifle, a shotgun and two 9mm pistols, as well as spare ammunition for all the firearms, a cellular telephone and various knives, pangas and axes.

The carcasses in the bakkie included one male impala, five female impalas, one week-old kudu calf and two duikers. The animals had been hunted for their meat.

The suspects will appear in court soon on charges of trespassing, illegal hunting in a national park, bringing weapons into a national park without a permit, removing animals from a national park without the necessary permits and possession of wild animals without a permit.

Anyone with information about poaching in the Kruger National Park should contact Ken Maggs on 082-804-7895, Kobus de Wet on 083-486-8711 or Sandra Bloem on (013) 735-5109.