FREE STATE – Four suspects aged between 47 and 62 appeared in the Welkom Magistrates Court on Friday, 5 June, after they were arrested for trying to sell a pangolin for R80 000.

The men were arrested for the alleged contraventions of the National Environmental Management Biodiversity Act 10 of 2004 and the Animals Protection Act 71 of 1962.

Members of the Hawks’ Serious Organised Crime Investigation unit and the Welkom Anti-Gang Unit acted on intelligence about a group of suspects selling pangolins.

On 4 June 2026, four suspects driving a blue Toyota Quest were arrested whilst attempting to sell one pangolin for R80 000. The pangolin was handed over to authorities for safekeeping.

Free State Head of the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (Hawks), Major General Mokgadi Bokaba, said the swift arrest of the poachers would help ensure endangered species do not face total extinction.

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