Aug 30 2011 8:33AM

Police score big wins against rhino poachers

Mpho Dube

A suspected rhino poacher was shot dead in a shoot-out with Directorate for Priority Crime Investigations (Hawks) investigators and Tactical Response Team (TRT) members, Brig Hangwani Mulaudzi said on Monday morning.

Mulaudzi told The New Age that one of the alleged poacher’s accomplices was lying in a hospital bed with a gunshot wound in his buttock while five others were behind bars after they were arrested in two separate operations in Polokwane and Vaalwater in Limpopo.

He also confirmed that in two major operations on Sunday afternoon, police managed to foil two possible rhino poaching attempts at Rietvlei Farm in Polokwane and Welgevonden Farm just outside Modimolle, arresting six armed poachers.

The dead poacher was shot at Rietvlei Farm after he and his four accomplices allegedly failed to heed police instructions to surrender.

He allegedly pointed an R5 automatic rifle at the police who then retaliated, fatally shooting him as well as injuring another suspect. The three other suspects surrendered as instructed.

Meanwhile, in Welgevonden Farm, two suspects, one a 36-year-old employee of the Limpopo provincial government, were cornered by police inside the farm and laid down their arms without any resistance. No police member was injured in either operation.

At Rietvlei Farm, police managed to recover a police issue R5 automatic rifle with 34 live rounds, a silencer, a Toyota van and an axe. At Welgevonden, police confisticated a .307 rifle with a silencer as well as an axe.

Mulaudzi said: “None of the suspects can be identified immediately. However, five of them, including the injured suspect, are allegedly from Mozambique and Zimbabwe.

“The foreign suspects are also residents of Tembisa and Soshanguve in Gauteng, while the sixth suspect is a local and an employee of the Limpopo government.”

Provincial commissioner Lt-Gen Amon Mashigo said the loss of rhinos to poaching was a “devastating loss for the country”.

“The shooting of criminals shows that police are heeding my plea to hit hard at these ruthless armed poachers and not hesitate to protect our wildlife,” said Mashigo.

“I hope this will be a lesson to other poachers that police are serious about their work and will not hesitate to protect themselves and the animals.

“We’ll arrest anyone, including government officials, who are part of this criminal act. We’ll get to the kingpins soon.”

Limpopo has become a target of rhino killings because of its diverse wildlife.

The department of economic development and the environment has vowed to take drastic action against rhino poaching.

Already the national army is turning the tide against poaching in the Kruger National Park.