Elephant tusks and sea life seized at shopping centre, house in Joburg east

The Hawks' fight against the trade in ivory and endangered species has led to two busts in the east of Johannesburg this week.

The Hawks' Capt Ndivhuwo Mulamu said the unit's serious organised crime investigation team together with the Johannesburg metro police dog unit arrested three suspects in possession of abalone, scylla serrate (mud crabs) and sea cucumbers.

The suspects were arrested in Cyrildene, Johannesburg, on Tuesday after their vehicle was searched and was found loaded with scylla serrate. Further investigations led the team to a house in the suburb where they found a further 1,020 units of scylla serrate, 287 units of abalone, and 140kg of sea cucumbers.

The trio is appearing before the Johannesburg Magistrate's Court on Thursday for contravention of the Marine Act.

A multidisciplinary-driven operation consisting of the Hawks' serious organised crime unit, the police crime intelligence unit, and Ekurhuleni's metro swat team also lead to the arrests of two suspects for possession of elephant tusks on Wednesday morning.

Mulamu said the team had followed up on information regarding men who were selling elephant tusks at Festival Mall in Kempton Park, where the suspects aged 33 and 50 were apprehended.

They will appear in the Kempton Park Magistrate's Court on Friday for contravention of the National Environmental Management-Biodiversity Act.