By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
Not all rhino horn is sold on the black market. Much of it is sold as a luxury item. Photo Credit:Getty Images.
A 46-year-old man is expected to appear in the Kempton Park Magistrate’s Court next Tuesday for contravening the National Environmental Management Biodiversity Act.
The Hawks said the arrest followed the discovery of six pieces of rhino horn in a consignment destined for Shandong Province in China.
Spokesperson, Lieutenant-Colonel Philani Nkwalase, said the Hawks and officials from the Department of Forestry, Fisheries, and the Environment were summoned to OR Tambo International Airport after a suspicious package was detected.
He said the goods were declared as chocolates, but upon inspection, the rhino horns were found.
“A thorough investigation by the Hawks led to the arrest of the suspect and an undisclosed amount of money was found hidden under the driver’s seat of his vehicle,” Nkwalase said.
The arrest comes about two weeks after Wishes Mugari, 29, from Zimbabwe, Justice Cossa, 27, from Mozambique, Amade Chongo, 46, from Zimbabwe and a South African, Innocent Chimenya, 56, appeared in the Ceres Magistrate’s Court.
The four were arrested shortly after the bloody massacre of four white rhinos at the Inverdoorn Game Reserve in Ceres, in the Western Cape, at the beginning of December.
Four rhinos, three males and one pregnant female, were found in the game reserve just outside Cape Town, de-horned and shot in the head, allegedly with high-calibre and silenced rifles.
The news broke a day before SanParks had also confirmed that its rhino de-horning team discovered a badly mutilated female rhino in the Kruger National Park.
Mugari,Cossa,Chongo and Chimenya, are facing a charge of conspiracy to commit a crime – the hunting of five white rhinos.
This brought the total number of poached rhinos to 24 since December 1.