While many would not let work interrupt their lunch break, a private Gqeberha anti-poaching unit, always hungry to catch poachers, recovered more than R4m worth of illegal perlemoen on Thursday.
Showcasing their situational awareness for suspicious activity, two managers from Dark Water Ops led from the front, recovering 11 bags of illegal perlemoen and apprehending a suspect.
The matter has been handed over to the Hawks.
The suspect is expected to appear in court soon on a charge of illegal possession of perlemoen.
While on duty on Thursday, Dark Water Ops operations director, Nicky Erasmus, and the firm’s general manager, Marais Lombard, went to the Moffett on Main Shopping Centre, at the intersection of William Moffett Expressway and Main Road in Walmer.
While in the parking lot, they noticed suspicious activity around a bakkie parked nearby.
“We found it odd when we noticed the driver of a white bakkie park his vehicle, get out and walk across the road, where he got into another vehicle and drove off,” Erasmus said.
“It became even stranger when seconds later a different person walked up to the parked bakkie, got in and drove off.”
Their initial thought was that the bakkie was being stolen or an underhanded deal was taking place, so they decided to follow the vehicle in the direction of Cape Road.
When the suspicious driver noticed their vehicle, he sped up to try to get away from them.
However, when he was forced to stop at a red light near Fairview, Erasmus and Lombard intercepted the vehicle.
A passenger jumped out the bakkie and fled the scene on foot, while Erasmus and Lombard managed to apprehend the driver on the scene with the help of Metro Police units and the Hawks.
“Upon further inspection, we realised there were several bags filled with perlemoen on the back of the bakkie, and a total of 6,123 units were counted, packed and confiscated,” Erasmus said.
He said the estimated value of the perlemoen recovered was about R4.8m.
This comes days after a special operation in Komani where the police netted four suspects and recovered R5.8m worth of illegal perlemoen at what they suspect was an illegal processing plant in Vincent.
In that operation, 11,197 units of perlemoen were recovered, while equipment and an Isuzu bakkie with a combined value estimated at R600,000 were also confiscated.
HeraldLIVE
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