Three Kuruman men face charges over R750k pangolin trafficking
Three Kuruman suspects were arrested on charges relating to the possession and illegal trading of an endangered species.
Image: Supplied / SAPS
THREE suspects from Kuruman, aged 31, 35 and 36, are set to appear in the Bloemfontein Magistrate’s Court on charges relating to the possession and illegal trading of an endangered species.
The arrests were made on February 10, at approximately 7am, after members of the Bloemfontein Public Order Police (POP) received intelligence-driven information about a potential pangolin transaction.
The suspects were allegedly travelling from the Northern Cape to Bloemfontein along the N8 road to meet a foreign national buyer who had R750,000 in cash for the deal.
The police confiscated a white Toyota Quantum minibus, which was allegedly used in the commission of the crime, and recovered the pangolin, which was unharmed.
The suspects face charges of carrying out a restricted activity without a permit, in terms of Section 57(1) of the National Environmental Management: Biodiversity Act (NEMBA) 10 of 2004, and possession of a pangolin without a permit.
Pangolins are widely regarded as the world's most trafficked mammal, with their meat consumed as a delicacy in some countries and their scales falsely believed to have medicinal properties.