National
Five arrested, abalone worth R6 million seized at Botrivier─── 05:26 Mon, 02 Nov 2015
Cape Town - Police have arrested five men and seized a truck carrying four tons of abalone at Botrivier, Western Cape police said on Sunday.
"During the early hours of this morning [Sunday] police reacted on intelligence and conducted an operation on the R34 in Botrivier in search of abalone poachers,” spokesperson Lt-Col André Traut said in a statement.
The suspects’ vehicle, a black Golf, was spotted 15 minutes after midnight and pursued. Two of the occupants managed to evade arrest when the car was pulled over, while two men, in their 30s, were arrested.
Shortly afterwards, the truck they were escorting was also pulled over. The occupants also escaped arrest.
Abalone with an approximate weight of four tons and valued at about R6 million was confiscated. Further investigations resulted in three more suspects being arrested, bringing the total number to five.
Once charged, the suspects, aged between 25 and 45, would appear in the Caledon Magistrate’s Court on a charge of illegal possession of abalone, Traut said.
ANA
