A poaching escapade by a 43-year-old man went wrong when he dropped his cell phone at the crime scene, after killing a Rhinoceros at Bubye Valley Conservancy in Beitbridge district.
The Chronicle newspaper reported that a man by the name of ‘Godknows Mashame’ was arrested for allegedly poaching a rhinoceros on the 24 December before disappearing to Kwekwe, a city in central Zimbabwe.
Police detectives arrested him after tracking his cell phone, which was found at the scene with three empty firearm cartridges.
During a police raid, three firearms, two empty magazines, explosives, a hunter’s torch, ammunition plus two Kudu horns were recovered at Mashame’s house in Kwekwe.
The alleged poacher had since appeared at the Beitbridge court, facing charges of illegal hunting and killing of a rhino and will remain in jail until the 16 January, pending whether he applies for release on bail.
Zimbabwe currently only have around 700 Rhinos in the wild and saw at least 50 murdered by poachers in their reserves last year.
The country and authorities have ramped up efforts to stop poaching of Rhinos by adding special secret units to tackle the problem as well as de-horning some Rhinos who are in severe poaching areas.
by 