“They were sentenced to two years’ imprisonment, wholly suspended for five years, for selling, receiving or possession of illegal abalone. and a further three years’ imprisonment, wholly suspended for five years, for operating an illegal abalone-processing establishment.”
The court slapped the men with another two years behind bars, which was wholly suspended for five years, for transporting or possessing abalone “not in a whole state”.
The trio was sentenced to a further two years in jail, also wholly suspended for five years, for selling, delivering or acquiring of abalone without a prescribed invoice.
TimesLIVE
Trio of Cape Town abalone poachers fined R100,000 each
Image: Hawks
Three abalone poachers have been fined R100,000 each after they were bust for running an illegal processing facility in Cape Town.
Two Chinese nationals — Wu Jieyong, 22, and Ren Keng, 27 — and Zimbabwean Justice Jairo Moyo, 27, were convicted in the Parow magistrate's court on Thursday.
The men were arrested in October by a team comprising the Hawks’ serious organised crime investigation team, crime intelligence, CapeNature and department of forestry, fisheries and environmental affairs.
This followed a tipoff that they were operating an abalone processing facility in Parow East. They all pleaded guilty to multiple charges of possession of illegal abalone.
Perlemoen poaching suspects arrested at Sardinia Bay
“They were consequently found guilty on all charges and were ordered to each pay R100,000 into the criminal asset recovery account with an alternative three months' imprisonment wholly suspended for five years with conditions,” said Hawks spokesperson Zinzi Hani.
“They were sentenced to two years’ imprisonment, wholly suspended for five years, for selling, receiving or possession of illegal abalone. and a further three years’ imprisonment, wholly suspended for five years, for operating an illegal abalone-processing establishment.”
The court slapped the men with another two years behind bars, which was wholly suspended for five years, for transporting or possessing abalone “not in a whole state”.
The trio was sentenced to a further two years in jail, also wholly suspended for five years, for selling, delivering or acquiring of abalone without a prescribed invoice.
TimesLIVE
READ MORE
Blast at Motherwell house blows the lid off illegal abalone processing facility
Abalone is SA's most traded live animal in 46 years: survey
Money laundering and wads of cash giving illegal wildlife traders the upper hand
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.
Most read
Latest Videos