John Hume in court as part of rhino horn trafficking syndicate
The former owner of the world's largest rhino conservation farm, John Hume, has been granted R100, 000 bail following his arrest for alleged rhino horn trafficking.
The founder of the Platinum Rhino Conservation and five others are accused of running an international rhino horn trafficking syndicate that moves rhino horns from South Africa to markets in Asia.
They appeared in the Pretoria Magistrate’s Court on Tuesday after being arrested by the Hawks.
They are collectively facing a total of 55 charges on multiple counts of racketeering, fraud, theft and money laundering amongst a raft of charges.
The co-accused are Clive Melville (63), attorney Izak Du Toit (50), director of a non-profit organisation Elizabeth van Niekerk, Mattheus Poggenpoel (37), who is an insurance broker, and game reserve manager Johannes Hennop (52)z
Du Toit, Poggenpoel and Hennop were each granted R20,000 bail, while Melville and Van Niekerk were each granted bail of R10,000.
Hawks has been investigating the suspected syndicate since 2017.
"They allegedly obtained permits to trade rhino horn locally, while intending to channel the horns into illegal international markets in South East Asia,” said NPA spokesperson Lumka Mahanjana.
The scheme is estimated to involve 964 rhino horns valued at R250 million.
The matter was postponed to December for further investigations.
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