Two rhinos were brutally shot and killed on a safari farm in Paterson late in the evening on Wednesday, earlier this week in the Sarah Baartman District.
The poachers had managed to find a way into the farm before stalking, shooting and killing the adult rhinos, thereafter de-horning both of them.
A police report told that the two rhinos, one male and the other female, were last spotted during an afternoon game drive. They were only found dead by game rangers the following afternoon while more tourists came through on another game drive.
A case of illegal hunting of a protected animal without a permit is under investigation and police are now on a manhunt for the perpetrators.
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Just a week before, in a separate incident, a Chinese national in Mpumalanga was sentenced to imprisonment by the Kempton Park Regional court for the illegal dealing in rhino horns
Shiuhau Chen, 57, was found guilty on three counts of illegal dealing in Rhino Horns and contravening the immigration act when he appeared in Court on 20 January 2022.
Rhino horn syndicate
Chen along with Eugene Huang and Ping Wu, 49, was arrested in August 2019 by the Middelburg-based Hawks Serious Organised Crime investigation team during a project-driven investigation addressing the rhino horn syndicate operating between Mpumalanga and Gauteng provinces.
The convict and his accomplice paid for rhino horns during controlled purchases between 2018 and 2019.
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Ping Wu was charged with money laundering for her involvement. She assisted to deposit the proceeds of the Rhino horns transaction into a Casino account. Ping Wu was sentenced in March 2022 by the Tembisa Regional Court while her partner Huang died in prison during the course of the trial.
A forfeiture order was granted in March 2022 for the money paid to the agent, as well as money in the casino account and two vehicles belonging to the accused, Huang and Chen. The case against Chen was remanded to 10 February 2023 for sentencing.
*Compiled by Devina Haripersad
