Ten rhino poachers nabbed in Zimbabwe

TEN men have been arrested in Harare for poaching ivory and rhino, police spokesperson Oliver Mandipaka. said yesterday.

The suspects, including four former soldiers and four farmers, were arrested in two separate operations and were apparently targetting Chinese buyers.

Detectives picked up the men in a plush shopping mall in northern Harare where they approached Chinese businessmen in a bid to sell two rhino horn.

The horn was found stashed in a sports bag in the boot of a Mercedes Benz, and the horns were valued at $120 000 by the national wildlife authorities.

In the first operation, six suspects were found with two fresh rhino horns weighing 4.6kg when they fell into a police trap at a local shopping mall, according to the state-owned Herald newspaper.

The other group was arrested while trying to sell four elephant tusks in the capital, the paper said, adding that both groups had approached a Chinese businessman trying to sell him the horns.

The rhino was poached in Chiredzi, southern Zimbabwe - the men have been under surveillance since April. Four elephant tusks were seized in a separate raid on the mall.

Zimbabwe's elephant and rhino populations have come under increasing threat in the last decade as groups loyal to president Robert Mugabe have overrun farms and conservation sites under the guise of land redistribution. More than ten rhino have been killed this year alone, according to local wildlife authorities.

Chinese companies prospecting for uranium in remote northern Zimbabwe are also reported to be deliberately poisoning elephants in the area, a local conservation group alleged last week.