Chinese bust with ivory will appear today
Two Chinese nationals who were caught at the roadblock to the Hosea Kutako International Airport with pieces of elephant tusk will appear in court today.
The two were arrested at the Kapps Farm roadblock on Wednesday afternoon when alert police officials searched their vehicle.
According to the spokesperson of the Namibian police, Deputy Commissioner Edwin Kanguatjivi the two men were arrested between 12:00 and 14:00 at the roadblock.
Kanguatjivi said that three coffee and milo tins were found in the vehicle that they were travelling in and that police became suspicious. When the tins were opened pieces of elephant tusk were found wrapped in plastic hidden between the coffee grinds and milo.
The two Chinese nationals, aged 47 and 60 years, were on work visas in Namibia employed at Nkurenkuru near Rundu in the Kavango East Region at a construction project. They were on their way to the airport and wanted to fly back to China.
The value of the pieces of elephant tusk and where they originate from has not yet been determined.
The latest statistics indicate that 69 elephants have been poached this year mainly from the Zambezi Region and the Kavango East Region.
Kanguatjivi confirmed that the two men will appear at the Windhoek Magistrate''s Court today.
This arrest follows just weeks after a Chinese national was arrested at the OR Tambo International Airport in Johannesburg after boarding a flight at the Hosea Kutako International Airport in Windhoek to Hong Kong with 18 rhino horns hidden in his luggage. The rhino horns, weighing in at 43kg, were valued at around N$6.6 million. A probe was launched at the Hosea Kutako airport into how Ye ZhiWe, 28, managed to pass scanners with the contraband undetected. Shortly after Sergeant Pendapala Abraham Iitula, 42, who worked at Hosea Kutako, was arrested in connection with the case.
ELLANIE SMIT
The two were arrested at the Kapps Farm roadblock on Wednesday afternoon when alert police officials searched their vehicle.
According to the spokesperson of the Namibian police, Deputy Commissioner Edwin Kanguatjivi the two men were arrested between 12:00 and 14:00 at the roadblock.
Kanguatjivi said that three coffee and milo tins were found in the vehicle that they were travelling in and that police became suspicious. When the tins were opened pieces of elephant tusk were found wrapped in plastic hidden between the coffee grinds and milo.
The two Chinese nationals, aged 47 and 60 years, were on work visas in Namibia employed at Nkurenkuru near Rundu in the Kavango East Region at a construction project. They were on their way to the airport and wanted to fly back to China.
The value of the pieces of elephant tusk and where they originate from has not yet been determined.
The latest statistics indicate that 69 elephants have been poached this year mainly from the Zambezi Region and the Kavango East Region.
Kanguatjivi confirmed that the two men will appear at the Windhoek Magistrate''s Court today.
This arrest follows just weeks after a Chinese national was arrested at the OR Tambo International Airport in Johannesburg after boarding a flight at the Hosea Kutako International Airport in Windhoek to Hong Kong with 18 rhino horns hidden in his luggage. The rhino horns, weighing in at 43kg, were valued at around N$6.6 million. A probe was launched at the Hosea Kutako airport into how Ye ZhiWe, 28, managed to pass scanners with the contraband undetected. Shortly after Sergeant Pendapala Abraham Iitula, 42, who worked at Hosea Kutako, was arrested in connection with the case.
ELLANIE SMIT
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