The five men were arrested on Saturday and were in possession of five fresh rhino horns, a high calibre hunting rifle, ammunition, and poaching equipment. The vehicle they were travelling in had also been impounded for further investigation, the SANParks said in a statement.

The arrests followed the discovery of two fresh rhino carcasses in the section, which were covered with grass and twigs to delay their discovery. The section ranger immediately deployed his rangers around the area to look for possible vehicles that might be ferrying the suspects.    

"A suspicious kombi with two visible passengers, and three others who were hiding, appeared not far from where the carcasses were discovered. The permit in their possession was for two persons and the ranger became more suspicious when he saw three others hiding out of sight.

"He then instructed the driver to come out with hands in the air and to open the rear door, which exposed the other passengers, whom he loudly instructed to lie on the floor with the driver. 

"He then handcuffed all three and quickly proceeded to arrest the fourth suspect, who then pointed out the fifth suspect whose gun was pointing at the section ranger but failed to pull the trigger. The section ranger then called for backup after effecting the arrests."

The suspects were in custody and SANParks had not ruled out further arrests. The arrested men would appear in court on rhino poaching-related charges in due course, the SANParks statement said.

SANParks CEO Fundisile Mketeni congratulated the team on the arrests and again warned criminals that the KNP was ready to "stop them in their tracks".

“We are thankful that one ranger managed to subdue five criminals without any harm unto himself, and continue to warn those who intend poaching in the KNP that our dedicated staff, technology, and information from communities will lead to your incarceration. We won’t stop until all criminals are removed from society,” Mketeni said.       

African News Agency