TWO men suspected to be part of a poaching syndicate who were arrested in Tsholotsho two weeks ago, leading to the recovery of 224kg of elephants tusks valued at $56 000, were last Friday denied bail after the State argued that they were a flight risk.
Senior Court Reporter
Busani Moyo (36) of Bhule 2 Village, Chief Magama in Tsholotsho and Cornelius Mudimba (35), of Kariangwe Village, Chief Siansole, Binga, were denied bail by Hwange resident magistrate Lindiwe Maphosa and ordered to appear in court today for routine remand. The pair had not been asked to plead to contravening Section 128 (b) of the Parks and Wildlife Act as read with Statutory 362 of 1990 (poaching).
Charges against the pair are that police in Tsholotsho received information that Moyo and Mudimba were allegedly dealing in ivory.
Acting on the information from members of the public, police from Tsholotsho Police Station teamed up with detectives from Lupane and raided Moyo’s homestead.
They carried out a search at the homestead leading to the recovery of 27 elephant tusks and five pieces of ivory.
Police arrested Mudimba while Moyo fled under the cover of darkness. However, Moyo was arrested after two days when the police used his brother to phone him and lure him under the guise that the police wanted to negotiate with him.
When he eventually came, police pounced and arrested him. Tonderai Mukuku is representing the suspects.
