Rhino poaching- the poacher tells all.

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Lisbeth
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Rhino poaching- the poacher tells all.

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RHINO POACHING IN SOUTH AFRICA - THE POACHERS STORY
BY IAN MICHLER, COURTESY OF AFRICA GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE



Between September 2006 and July 2007, the South African press carried reports detailing the arrest of the Van Deventer brothers on charges of poaching rhinoceroses. Hailing from Bronkhorstspruit outside Johannesburg, they both pleaded guilty to the charges and were also convicted of illegally trading in rhino horn and the unlawful possession of firearms.

Their arrests came after some excellent detective work by a task team of the South African Police Service based in the Free State province. The team was assisted by various organised crime units, as well as SANParks officials and other wildlife authorities. Having entered into a plea bargain with the state, the brothers received reduced prison sentences. Shortly afterwards, the Van Deventers contacted investigative journalist and Africa Geographic columnist Ian Michler. They wanted to tell their story and, over the course of a morning in a Kroonstad prison, they shared the hows and whys of what they claim was one of at least five rhino poaching syndicates operating in South Africa. While judging the motivation behind their confession is not easy, it is clear that they were willing to share every detail of their story.

The poachers
We never liked doing what we did and telling our story will help the public be aware of how to catch other poachers,' says Rhino One, the name the older brother goes by in prison. ‘We are relieved it's over because we were always stressed. I lost perspective on life,' added Rhino Two, his younger brother. Involved from the very beginning, Rhino Two is serving a 10-year sentence, with two years suspended after admitting that he continued to poach after his first arrest in May 2006. The older brother was given five years, with two-and-a-half years suspended for his role as an accomplice towards the end of the killing spree.

Crime syndicates
Criminal activity that involves trade in ill-gotten goods and services of high value is usually carried out through syndicates. In essence, these operate as loose or informal associations, founded on the basis that members with the ability to distribute cash carry the most power and influence. Ostensibly the smart guys, they get others lower in the network to do the dirty work and take the greater risks. And finding people who are willing to take those risks in return for immediate payment is never a problem.

It is common knowledge that dealing in rhino horn involves big money, but it also comes with the threat of harsh jail sentences and heavy fines. These range in severity from a minimum of five years imprisonment or a R50 000 (US$6 700) fine in North West province to 15 years or a R250 000 (US$34 000) fine in Limpopo. With this type of risk-reward profile, rhino poaching and the smuggling of horns are perfectly suited to syndicates. In this particular case, the brothers who are sitting in jail were the bottom feeders, and they got involved because they needed the money, sometimes desperately.

According to them, they were taking instructions, and the cash, from middlemen higher up the network. Amongst those arrested and charged in relation to this case are a number of well-known members of the South African hunting community, the youngest brother of the two convicted brothers, a prominent captive-predator breeder from the Free State and a private investigator (see ‘The accused parties'). And then there is the ‘mule', a customary and crucial player in the work of syndicates. Mules are used, often unwittingly, to carry out risky drop-off assignments. The handler is often nowhere near the vicinity of the assignment and step-by-step instructions will be passed on via cellphone. For example, a mule may be instructed to go to a park or restaurant, pick up a bag lying in the toilets and then catch a flight to a particular city. Upon arrival, they will then be told to book into a certain hotel and leave the bag in a specific place before checking out at a given time.

The bag, containing the rhino horn, will then be picked up by someone else, and so the trail continues. In one instance, an unemployed person from Port Elizabeth was arrested for doing the donkey work between those charged and the end users, thought to be a group of wealthy Vietnamese, who took delivery of the horn outside South Africa.

19 rhinos killed - 8 in Kruger National Park
Between December 2005 and August 2006, when the brothers were caught at the gates of KwaZulu-Natal's Hluhluwe-iMfolozi Park, they claim to have shot 19 white rhinos. Eighteen died within close proximity to where they were shot and one escaped wounded. Of the total, 16 were adults and three were calves, killed because they kept milling around their dead mothers. Eight of the rhinos were shot in the southern reaches of the Kruger National Park, two in Hluhluwe-iMfolozi and the rest on private game farms owned by people known to the syndicate members.

Recruited by hunting community
Rhino Two believes that he was recruited by members of the hunting community to do the shooting because of his marksmanship and tracking skills. Using a variety of weapons, mostly illegal loans from gun shops and fellow hunters, he pulled the trigger on every rhino killed. His choice of weapon for the first few operations was a compound bow, but he soon found that its benefit of silence was outweighed by the need to get extremely close, and he switched to a light rifle, a seven-millimetre Mauser, fitted with a silencer. For the last few operations, a heavier calibre 30-06 was used, simply because it was made available to him.

Broad daylight - Modus operandi
Every animal was shot within just 100 metres of a road, some as close as 15 metres, and all during broad daylight. In the Kruger Park, busy roads were chosen to avoid arousing suspicion. During two operations that took place on private land, the brothers claim that a light aircraft was used to spot the rhino from the air before they went in on foot. For Rhino One and Rhino Two, locating animals and pulling the trigger was the easiest part of the operation. Removing the horn and escaping the scene undetected was much harder.

The chances of being discovered or having to abort a mission multiplied substantially if they dropped an animal, but had to spend an anxious night in a camp or lodge, usually under a false name, waiting to return and cut out the horn the following morning. In the beginning, Rhino Two used a large panga to remove the horn, but soon switched to a smaller and sharper butcher's knife. With the panga, it took 20 minutes of grunt work to dislodge the horns, but by the end he was completing the process in less than a minute, using the same technique employed to cut abalone from its shell. In most instances, once the horns were removed, they had enough time to cover the rhino's body with brush and branches.

Rhino horns - $2000 per kilo
The horns, in a state referred to as ‘wet', were simply placed in a bag and stored under the seat of the getaway vehicle. According to the two brothers, they cut out at least 85 kilograms of horn during 11 months of poaching. In the underworld, horn for trade is often referred to as harde hout (Afrikaans for ‘hard wood') and the prices they received varied between R12 000 and R15 000 (US$1 600 to US$2 000) per kilogram. In general, these prices seem to be above the going rate paid at this level, but the brothers believe this happened because there were fewer ranks in the syndicate and, unusually, most of the members, except the mule and the Vietnamese buyers, knew one an- other. On one occasion, desperate for money, they accepted R6 750 (US$900) per kilogram. As horns were passed up the syndicate ladder, however, the price increased with each transaction. According to the brothers, members just two levels up from them were receiving about R19 000 (US$2 500) per kilogram.

Courtesy of Africa Geographic magazine


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Re: Rhino poaching- the poacher tells all.

Post by okie »

So sad :-(


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Re: Rhino poaching- the poacher tells all.

Post by Puff Addy »

:shock: :shock: :shock:

:no: :no: :no:

@#$ @#$ @#$


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Re: Rhino poaching- the poacher tells all.

Post by Flutterby »

:-( :-(


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Re: Rhino poaching- the poacher tells all.

Post by Alf »

Reading the story I thought they would give out more names of the members of the syndicates, as they mentioned that most of these people were known to them.

Hopefully the police have all these names.


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Re: Rhino poaching- the poacher tells all.

Post by Alf »

Yeah very sad indeed. But also remember that these poachers have no job, no money, no food. Poaching rhino horns offers them huge sums of money which they won't get from any normal job.

If you haven't eaten for days or weeks and someone offers you huge amounts of cash for rhino horn, would you say no?

Some of these people have families to care for. So they are left with no choice than to poach. And these people offering them this money knows they are desperate to get food and money.

It's a sad country we are living in and government doesn't help. The more they steal and the less they do, will mean only one thing, everything will just go downhill and the poorer the people will get and obviously more poaching will happen

O/ O/ O/ O/


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Re: Rhino poaching- the poacher tells all.

Post by Richprins »

I'm sorry, but they are criminals, end of story! No excuses at all. :evil:

This is high-end theft, not subsistence. Organised crime, if you will.

If someone robs your house to sell your tv will you say "ag shame, he was hungry"?


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Re: Rhino poaching- the poacher tells all.

Post by Lisbeth »

I doubt that they think that a rhino is the private property of someone. "It is only an animal". Ignorance is the root of many evils :evil:


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Re: Rhino poaching- the poacher tells all.

Post by Richprins »

Lisbeth wrote:I doubt that they think that a rhino is the private property of someone. "It is only an animal". Ignorance is the root of many evils :evil:
Whooo! Try stealing a tribal cow...then you will see uproar! :shock:


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Re: Rhino poaching- the poacher tells all.

Post by Lisbeth »

A cow is the property of someone ^0^


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