The Hawks Endangered Species Unit have bust three men for allegedly intending to sell rhino horns to an undercover agent.
Three men, including a game farmer, were expected back in court on October 12 after they were arrested in a sting operation for allegedly trying to sell rhino horns to an undercover agent, Hawks spokesperson Brigadier Hangwani Mulaudzi said on Sunday.
The three suspects – Pieter Van Zyl‚ 67‚ Marco Swanepoel‚ 35‚ and Stephan Mylie‚ 30 – were arrested on Wednesday evening in Equestria‚ Pretoria.
“It is alleged that the three intended to sell five rhino horns and unaware that it was a sting operation‚ they were then rounded up by the Hawks members.
“The trio were led to their hide-out‚ Van Zyl’s house‚ where a further three rhino horns were found and seized. The eight horns are estimated to be worth almost a million rand‚” said Hawks spokesman Brigadier Hangwani Mulaudzi.
He added that on Thursday the team had gone back to the same house as part of their ongoing investigation and were stunned to find a massive haul of almost 105 rhino horns‚ the value of which had yet to be determined.
“Van Zyl – a well-known game farmer‚ alleges the rhino horns belonged to him. Despite that claim‚ the Hawks team is validating the alleged permits‚ issued by the Department of Environmental Affairs‚ as well as taken DNA samples of all horns to compare them to the Rhodis database at Onderstepoort‚” Mulaudzi said.
Meanwhile the three suspects appeared at in the Pretoria Regional Court on Friday and Van Zyl was granted R20‚000 bail while the other two men‚ Swanepoel and Mylie‚ were each released on R10‚000 bail. The case was remanded until October 12 for further investigation.
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