BLOEMFONTEIN – Three suspects from Kuruman in the Northern Cape aged 31, 35 and 36 will appear in the Bloemfontein Magistrate Court soon on two charges including the possession of a endangered species.
The Parkweg Police received information about the illegal trading of an endangered pangolin. The police followed the suspects to a shop on the N8 National Road where at 07:00 on Tuesday, 10 February they attempted to do a transaction with a foreign national buyer for allegedly R750 000.
The suspects arrived at the shop driving in a white Toyota Quantum minibus, which was also confiscated as part of evidence used in the commission of crime. The police recovered the pangolin unharmed.
Spokesperson for the police in the Free State Stg Sinah Mpakane explains people use pangolins’ meat as a delicacy and their scales, which are falsely believed to have medicinal properties, for lactation, arthritis and cancer, among other things. Pangolins are believed to be the world’s most trafficked mammal.
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The three suspects are facing a charge of carrying out a restricted activity without a permit in terms of South Africa’s National Environmental Management: Biodiversity Act and Possession of a pangolin without a permit.
