A 35-year-old Gqeberha man, arrested last week for alleged involvement with perlemoen poaching, appeared briefly in the city’s magistrate’s court on Monday.
His case was postponed to January 29 for a formal bail application.
Johannes Cloete was arrested on Friday by a team comprising members of the economic protected resources team of the serious organised crime investigation unit of the Hawks, Dark Water Operations, the department of forestry, fisheries and the environment, along with members of the SA Police Service port of entry unit.
Provincial Hawks spokesperson Captain Yolisa Mgolodela said the arrest came more than a month after members of the Hawks’ team received information about perlemoen allegedly being offloaded from a rubber duck at about 4am on December 9.
“The members arrived at the scene and found the rubber duck stuck on the sand where people were in the process of offloading the perlemoen but fled the scene on spotting the police,” Mgolodela said.
A total of 26 bags of perlemoen containing 5,700 units weighing about 1,000kg and diving equipment were seized at the time.
“Since then the team had been on the lookout for the alleged perpetrators,” Mgolodela said.
On Friday, information was received which led to the arrest of Cloete who was clad in his diving gear and about to enter the sea at Noordhoek.
The joint team was given a thumbs-up by provincial head Major-General Mboiki Obed Ngwenya for the swift arrest.
HeraldLIVE