Windhoek
Poachers are raking in up to U$70 000 per kilogramme of rhino horn, which explains why the endangered beast remains on the receiving end of illegal hunting in the country.
This was revealed by Environment and Tourism Minister Pohamba Shifeta yesterday when he expressed great concern over the increase in poaching in the country.
“Rhino poaching is lucrative business,” he said when asked why the poaching dust refuses to settle.
Shifeta said the price is lucrative on the so-called black market, where a kilogramme of rhino horn earns between U$60 000 and U$70 000.
“That’s why people are doing it,” Shifeta said, adding that neighbouring countries are experiencing much more poaching than Namibia.
Last year The Washington Times reported that at US$60K (about N$900 000) a pound at the current exchange rate, illegal rhino horns are now more valuable than gold, diamonds or cocaine. In some Asian countries the rhino horn is believed to cure cancer.
The police arrested five people in three different regions in Namibia last Saturday for poaching rhino and elephant.
One elderly man was arrested in Kavango East for possession of elephant tusks, while two men were arrested in Opuwo for possession of rhino horns.
A further two suspects were arrested in Khomas Region on suspicion of poaching rhinos, the police said yesterday.
All five were expected to appear in court yesterday. Four would be brought before the Katutura Magistrate’s Court, while one would be brought before the Rundu Magistrate’s Court, Deputy Police Commissioner Edwin Kanguatjivi said on Sunday. He said that on Saturday at around 05h00 at Mwitjiku village near Divundu in Kavango East Region, a 54-year-old Namibian man found in possession of two elephant tusks was arrested.
Kanguatjivi said that as a result of a joint operation between the Protected Resources Division and the Police Crime Division – two men in possession of two rhino horns were arrested.
As a result of the police operation in Windhoek, two more people were arrested in the Kunene Region.
The four poaching suspects, two from Windhoek and two from Kunene Region, will appear together in the Katutura Magistrate’s Court this week.
The latest arrests bring to eight the number of people arrested this year in connection with poaching or possession of rhino horns and elephant tusks.
Last year 22 people were arrested for poaching, or possession of rhino horns and elephant tusks, according to police statistics.
Earlier this month, the head of the police public relations division Chief Inspector Kauna Shikwambi said 34 poached rhino carcasses were discovered this year through aerial and foot patrols in the Etosha National Park and Palmwag/Klip River areas of the Kunene Region. Twenty-nine carcasses were found in the Etosha National Park and five at Palmwag/Klip River since January. Four Namibians arrested in December for allegedly poaching a rhino at Klip River have also been linked, through investigations, to some of the carcasses found near Klip River this year, she added.