Mozambique: Rhino poaching kingpin detained – AIM report | Watch

Login

Register

http://www.clubofmozambique.com/

Mozambique: Rhino poaching kingpin detained – AIM report | Watch

5:20 CAT | 01 Aug 2022

Screen grab: TVM

The Mozambican authorities on Friday detained two men in Marracuene district, about 30 kilometres north of Maputo, in possession of eight rhinoceros horns.

One of them is 45 year old Simon Valoi, better known as “Boss Navarra”, who is believed to head the country’s most dangerous poaching ring, in the province of Gaza.

According to a report in the independent newssheet “Carta de Mocambique”, Valoi is also wanted in South Africa on two charges of murder. His whereabouts have never been a mystery – he lives in Massingir district, in the southern Mozambican province of Gaza. His home is in the settlement of Mavodze, inside the Limpopo National Park.

He achieved a certain level of fame in 2015 when a German journalist from the magazine “Der Spiegel”, Batholomaus Grill, and the Swiss photographer Toby Selander were investigating rhino poaching. The poachers kidnapped the two journalists and threatened to kill them. It was clear to the journalists that Navarra and his gang enjoyed protection from the Massingir police and local prosecution services.

Navarra and his accomplice, 32 year old Paulo Zucula, were detained last Tuesday. The arrests were the result of joint work undertaken by Mozambique’s National Criminal Investigation Service (Sernic), and various wildlife protection bodies, notably the Wildlife Justice Commission.

During the operation, the authorities confiscated the eight rhino horns, which weighed 7.5 kilos. It is thought that their value on the illegal market would be more than 30 million meticais (about 470,000 US dollars, at the current exchange rate).

At a Maputo press conference on Friday, the Sernic spokesperson, Hilario Lole, described Navarra as “the mentor or leader” of poaching gangs. “This individual provided the guns”, said Lole. “He selected the poachers, and provided the other equipment used in hunting wild animals, in this case rhinoceros”.

Lole added that Sernic has been working for a long time to “neutralize” the people who organise rhino poaching. Navarra’s gang, he said, had undertaken its criminal activities in Gaza, and along the border with South Africa.

READ: Mozambique: ‘Navara’, leader of notorious poaching gang arrested – AIM

Speaking to reporters, the two men denied any involvement in poaching. Navarra said “I was just taking merchandise to Maputo to a man named Pedro. I was sent by my friend Beneth who lives in South Africa”.

He said he went to the hotel where “Pedro” was supposedly staying. “I asked the hotel reception to call him, and at that moment the police arrived”, he claimed.

“I was only hired as a middleman”, said Navarra. “I haven’t been a poacher since 2016. My commission for delivering the product would have been 20,000 meticais”.

Valoi said Zucula was a relative who had asked him for a lift to Maputo and knew nothing about the rhino horns.

Zucula, however, said it was Navarra who asked him to accompany him to Maputo. “He rang to say that I was to go with him to Maputo. He didn’t tell me what he was carrying in his plastic bag”.

“When we were about to leave (the hotel), the police came in and we were arrested”, said Zucula.

Watch the TVM report.