Hawks nab two rhino poaching ‘middlemen’

Intrigue surrounded the announcement yesterday by the Directorate of Priority Crime Investigation (The Hawks) of the arrest of two SA “middlemen” involved in the ongoing rhino poaching onslaught.

Mandla Mashele and Calvin Malapane were arrested on May 30 in Benoni for the procurement of rhino horn. Four rhino horns, valued at R1.5 million, were linked to the two accused.

These arrests would disrupt the supply chain from the Kruger National Park to Gauteng and beyond, said Colonel Johan Jooste, the Hawks’ endangered species unit commander.

Details of how the Hawks penetrated the syndicate remained a mystery to protect the officers involved, as they were working undercover.

The arrests are not as significant as they would have been if they involved the so-called Groenewald gang, accused of running one of SA’s largest rhino poaching syndicates – but they remain important, given Mashele’s and Malepane’s alleged middlemen status.

But the initial operation to arrest the two went awry, thanks to extensive security and CCTV cameras at the accused’s palatial home in Daveyton, near Springs.

A source told The Citizen that when the accused saw the Hawks roll up outside their home, they managed to escape. It was only after an intensive manhunt that they voluntarily handed themselves over, Jooste confirmed later.

Both accused are currently on bail of R50 000 each.

The arrests were welcomed by NGOs Save Our Rhino (SoR) and Outraged SA Citizens Against Poaching (Oscap).

“The question is, how much information are they going to get out of the accused,” said Loraine Liebenberg of SoR. “The significant thing is to break the links between Africa and Asia.”

Liebenberg said the National Prosecuting Authority also had to up its game over prosecutions.

Oscap’s Kim da Ribeira said after the “song and dance” made yesterday, it was important to find out how involved the accused were.

“They are South African and from an area not normally associated with rhino poaching, so the more information the Hawks can garner the better,” Da Ribeira said.

The duo are back in court on July 13.

– amandaw@citizen.co.za

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