Three arrested suspects appeared before the Hoedspruit Periodical Court on Monday for possession of parts of an endangered species (rhino parts).
Read: Suspected rhino poachers nabbed outside Hoedspruit
A Giyani man and his accomplices were denied bail when they appeared for the third time in the Hoedspruit Periodical Court and their cases were postponed to 14 June 2018 for further bail and police investigations.
Juma Lucas Baloyi (29) was out on R2 000 bail for attempted murder and house robbery which occurred in Giyani when he was arrested together with Sam Judas Khosa (25) and Shadrack Thomas Nkuna (39) in Hoedspruit last month.
Nkuna was out on R5 000 bail for rhino poaching in Skukuza when he was arrested. Police spokesperson, Lieutenant Colonel Moatshe Ngoepe, said the three men were arrested at a road block along the R40 route in Hoedspruit as part of police ‘Operation Fiela II’ on Friday, May 18.
“The suspects’ speeding motor vehicle was stopped at a road block manned by the police, farm watch, Young Civilians on Patrol and the Community Policing Forum. Upon searching the vehicle, over R200 000 in cash, an ear, a nose and a tail believed to be of a rhino were found in possession of the suspects,” said Ngoepe.
