The police apprehended 14 suspected poachers, in two incidents, who were transporting illegally and removed endangered plants through the West Coast.
The first seven suspects were arrested on 9 October after the Nuwerus police and the local farm watch reacted on information received of possible succulent poachers.
According to Capt Tania Helfrich, a spokesperson for the West Coast Police District, the information revealed that the alleged poachers were expected to travel in a white Nissan with a Northern Cape registration number, moving towards the N7 in Bitterfontein.
The police was positioned at the Bitterfontein and Kliprand crossing and at about 19:40 the vehicle was spotted and pulled over.
In the vehicle a black bag with 2130 Conophytum species, a type of rare succulent, were found.
The seven suspects from Garies, aged between 24 and 55 appeared in the Vanrhynsdorp Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday 11 October.
That evening, after the suspects appeared in court, another seven poachers were arrested. Information was received about plant poachers, possibly foreign nationals, that would be travelling in a rented vehicle from the Northern Cape to Cape Town.
At 18:30 the vehicle was stopped at the N7 Kliprand and Pofadder crossing at Bitterfontein by the Malmesbury Stock Theft and Endangered Species Unit, Nuwerus police and Cape Nature Vanrhynsdorp. The vehicle was inspected and an unknown amount of endangered flora was found hidden among the suspects’ property. Another seven suspects were arrested. The suspects are citizens of Cameroon, Saudi Arabia and South-Africa. They appeared in the Vanrhynsdorp Court on 12 October.
