Abalone Poaching

[Lisbeth]

Kingpin’s wife managed perlemoen finances

BY DEVON KOEN - 21 September 2018


Convicted perlemoen kingpin Morne Blignault during sentencing in the Port Elizabeth High Court on Wednesday
Image: Eugene Coetzee

It was convicted perlemoen poaching and racketeering kingpin Morne Blignault’s exwife, Marshelle, who managed the finances of their illegal operation, and some of the lackeys were paid in drugs, a court heard on Thursday.

Details of how the illegal enterprise was set up and run to reap millions of rands in profit were heard in the Port Elizabeth High Court.

Presentencing proceedings for five people – Marshelle, three employees and a man considered to have been at the wrong place at the wrong time – shed further light on how Blignault set up and ran one of the Eastern Cape’s biggest perlemoen processing operations.

Marshelle, 40, Jacob (Japie) Naumann, 34, Frederick (Frikkie) Nance, 24, Petrus (Pietie) Smith, 31 and Willie Nance, 56, pleaded guilty to charges including racketeering and contravening the Marine Living Resources Act in August after their case was separated from that of Blignault, who had pleaded not guilty.

Blignault was sentenced on Wednesday to 20 years after being convicted on two charges of racketeering and one of contravening the act.

He changed his plea after being faced with overwhelming evidence, including surveillance footage from the Oliphantskop farm where perlemoen was processed.

Giving evidence in aggravation of sentencing, investigating officer Warrant Officer Leon Eksteen told how after a year of investigating, police raided the farm and arrested three people there in August 2014.

Huang Zhenyong, 32, and Pan Kekun, 53, of China, were sentenced to three years each for contravening the act.

They were charged with racketeering and deported to China after pleading guilty.

The third person arrested, Brett Killian, 29, turned state witness in May 2015.

Eksteen told how Marshelle managed the finances while Naumann initially scouted out the farm and paid rent to owner Johannes Erasmus.

Frederick Nance and Smith transported the perlemoen to and from the farm. Nance snr only once transported perlemoen on his son’s behalf.

Eksteen told the court that Nance jnr, Naumann and Smith were paid on average R1,000 a week, sometimes receiving it in the form of drugs.

Sentencing proceedings are set to continue on Tuesday.

[Richprins]

R6 million worth of abalone found in potato bags at the Groblersbrug Port of Entry
The abalone was found on a truck travelling to Zimbabwe via Botswana
2 hours ago


LIMPOPO – Police in Limpopo have made a major breakthrough after R6 million worth of abalone was recovered during a regular stop and search operation at the Groblersburg Port of Entry.

South African abalone, mostly known locally as perlemoen is endemic to the shores of South Africa and due to their high market value, are one of the most sought-after invertebrates in the country.

According to Col Moatshe Ngoepe, spokespserson for the police, the recovery occurred when a truck travelling to Zimbabwe via Botswana was stopped by police at the search point of the border post on Wednesday night, 3 October.


During the search, the driver and his crew jumped off, ran away on foot and disappeared into the darkness.

Ngoepe says police continued searching the truck and found the abalone in a hidden compartment under the loading bin, stashed in potato sacks.

Photo: Limpopo police

“1350 killograms of abalone with the estimated value of R6 million was found. The origin and destination of these protected species is still being determined through ongoing police investigations,” he said.

According to the Hawks’ provincial spokesperson, Captain Matimba Maluleke, the Hawks has received a tip off about the truck and acted on it.

“Two passports belonging to two Zambian nationals were seized,” he said.

Anyone with information which can lead to the arrest of these suspects may contact Captain Richard Boshomane at 079 894 5501; the crime stop number 0860010111; the crime line SMS 32211 or the nearest police station.

Provincial Commissioner of the South African Police Service in Limpopo, Leutenant General Nneke Jim Ledwaba has commended all members at the boarder post who were involved in this milestone achievement for the sterling work done.

The manhunt for the suspects continues.

raeesak@nmgroup.co.za

https://reviewonline.co.za/279407/r6-mi ... ort-entry/

[Richprins]

This is unusual. But Zimbabwe's tinpots have long had links to China...

[Lisbeth]

The police seems to be getting more serious about their work. It was about time! Maybe Cele means it seriously

[Flutterby]

With the amount of abalone being poached you have to wonder how much is left!!

[Richprins]

Cops bust 2 men in alleged possession of bags of perlemoen
2018-10-09 22:42

Jenna Etheridge




Two men were arrested after they were allegedly found in possession of a large amount of perlemoen (abalone) in their vehicle on Tuesday morning, Free State police said.

The perlemoen was valued at around R1m.

Members of the police's K9 Unit allegedly discovered the stash while searching the vehicle near a resort on the N1, between Tierpoort and Bloemfontein, Constable Wendy Nkabi said.

They found about 30 plastic bags of perlemoen hidden under the vehicle's seats and in the boot.

The men, aged 33 and 35, are from Kraaifontein in the Western Cape and were allegedly transporting the perlemoen to Gauteng, said Nkabi.

They are expected to appear in the Bloemfontein Magistrate's Court soon.

https://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/News ... n-20181009

[Flutterby]

[Lisbeth]

Again!

[Lisbeth]

Abalone price at all time high, sustainable options decreasing – investigative journalist[/b]

10.10.2018 -Kelvin Suddason

Investigative journalist Kimon de Greef says there is not enough abalone left to redistribute abalone income and stabilise the abalone crisis.

De Greef launched his new book, Poacher: Confessions from the abalone underworld, co-authored with a former poacher from the Cape Flats, on Tuesday after spending a year and a half researching.

Speaking to the Cape Town Press Club at Kelvin Grove in Newlands, De Greef said the options were running out in reaching a sustainable solution to the crisis.

About six million abalone are estimated to be illicitly exported from South African shores every year. The seafood delicacy, locally known as perlemoen, fetches more than R8 000 a plate in China, and poachers are paid R500 a kilogram in Hout Bay and other fishing settlements to pries the shellfish from the reefs.

Nearly 3 000 tonnes of abalone are smuggled out of South Africa every year, he said. Scientists have estimated that the illicit trade represents 20 to 30 times the amount of wild abalone that can be legally traded. The amount, referred to as the "total allowable catch", was set in 2013 by the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (DAFF) at 96 tonnes per year.

DAFF's operating budget is heavily dependent on income from the sale of confiscated abalone, he continued.

Money greasing hands

As a result, there was little incentive for DAFF to work towards solving the abalone crisis, and the scope of the crisis extends far beyond DAFF's jurisdiction, he said.

De Greef suggested that a "more holistic" approach be taken to deal with the issue. Abalone poaching was a "systemic issue" that had created a "massive parallel underground, multimillion-rand criminalised economy" where poor fishing communities, finding no other means of subsistence, get locked into the illicit trade of abalone.

It was likely that "powerful kingpins coordinate the illicit trade from their cells" and that abalone poachers have under-the-table dealings with the police force.

"Abalone money has greased a lot of hands," De Greef said.

Earlier in October, Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane was set to investigate alleged corruption within DAFF after a request from the chairperson of the Western Cape legislature's committee for economic development, Beverley Schäfer.

While abalone aquaculture may partly help to increase abalone stock in South Africa, De Greef was concerned that the capital-intensive nature of aquaculture would only benefit wealthy South Africans.

Communities risking their lives

It would also not solve the systemic problems that force poor fishing communities into risking their lives to poach abalone from the reefs where shark attacks are but one of many dangers they face.

Given that a poacher could, in one night's diving, make more than a teacher's monthly salary, many are willing to risk their lives. This was more common in the past however, as stock depletion has lessened the risk some divers would be willing to take.

Between the price of abalone being "at the highest it's ever been", the poaching man hours being "inconceivably high", the involvement of drug cartels and possible corrupt officials, the future of the abalone trade is uncertain, De Greef said.

The same conclusion was reached by the international wildlife trade monitoring network Traffic, which in a report published in September found that poachers had taken at least 96 million units of South Africa's abalone in the past 17 years, leaving the future of the snail-like sea creature in danger of becoming extinct.

While abalone stocks are indeed plummeting and the threat of extinction, albeit in the long-term, is real, De Greef remained hopeful. For the investigative reporter, "abalone is much more resilient than people think".

*Note: Some factual errors represented in this article have been corrected at the request of the author of the book.

[Lisbeth]

The will to stop this disaster is missing completely