After an excruciatingly long wait, justice has been served for conservationists and animal lovers. A gang of poachers in South Africa recently received a series of hefty sentences, wrapping up a court case that stretched nearly three years.
Three men from the so-called “Ndlovu Gang” were sentenced to a total of 500 years in prison for more than 55 counts of rhino poaching over four years, according to a press release by the South African Police Service. However, because the sentences will run concurrently, each of the men will effectively serve 25 years.
South African police arrested the men in 2016 as part of a campaign to combat poaching in the Eastern Cape known as Operation Full Moon. The suspects — Forget Ndlovu, 43, Jabulani Ndlovu, 41 and Sikhumbuzo Ndlovu, 40 — were linked to at least 10 rhino poaching incidents, including one at Buckland’s Private Game Reserve where a rhino may have been darted. During the arrest, police recovered a trove of evidence, including a freshly harvested rhino horn valued at approximately R1.2 million (US $85,000), veterinary drugs used to tranquilize the animals, a dart gun and darts that matched those found at other crime scenes, an illegal rifle, saws and knives.
The syndicate was apparently notorious for posing as guests at lodges, and are the only poachers in South Africa known to have used veterinary drugs to kill rhinos in recent years.
