SIX key syndicate members associated with a massive rhino poaching were arrested in a number of areas in Mpumalanga.
Hawks spokesperson Brigadier Hangwani Mulaudzi said during the swoop members found and confiscated luxury vehicles and motorbikes, trucks, an undisclosed amount of money.
He said the seized items are estimated to be over a million rand in value.
Mulaundzi said the suspects aged between 30 and 56, including two alleged syndicate leaders, one right hand man, two police officers and a former cop.
They are expected to appear at the White River Magistrate’s Court this afternoon, facing charges of theft, conspiracy to commit a crime, illegal buying and selling of rhino horns, corruption and money laundering.
"The significant breakthrough follows an investigative - Project Broadbill - by the Wildlife Trafficking Section of the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation which commenced in January last year," Mulaundzi.
The project focused on the criminal supply chain of poached rhinos within the Kruger National Park, Kwazulu Natal, Gauteng and other private or state owned reserves.
Mulaundzi said the syndicate members allegedly ran poaching groups with the support of corrupt police officials as well as authorities from the private game farms.
The areas in control of the alleged syndicate includes, traditional trust areas such as Cork, Belfast, Mkhuhlu, Calcutta and Shabalala trust around the Hazyview and Mbombela magisterial districts within Mpumalanga.
Mulaundzi said the rhino horns would allegedly get sold at the highest price to the markets within Gauteng, where after it gets distributed to the South East Asian markets.
We are now at the third property owned by one suspected rhino poaching kingpin in Hazyview Mpumalanga, it looks like this is a newly built establishment, furniture is still wrapped up. #sabcnews pic.twitter.com/tVbZDY4VkL
— Mweli Masilela (@mwelimasilela) September 19, 2018
