By Buziwe Nocuze
The SAPS provincial tactical response team (TRT) arrested three men in one of the biggest perlemoen busts in the Western Cape.
They were caught on Sunday in Philippi with perlemoen valued at R10.3-million.
Western Cape police spokesperson Lieutenant-Colonel Malcolm Pojie said the police are working hard to stop the illegal trade of the country’s endangered marine resources.
“On Sunday 15 September around 5pm, TRT members followed information about a perlemoen storage site. This led them to an address in the industrial area of Rylands, near Philippi,” said Pojie.
When officers arrived, one suspect, a Chinese man, tried to run but was caught. Inside the building, which had been turned into a perlemoen processing centre, two Zimbabwean men were also found processing large amounts of wet and dry perlemoen.
The police seized 11,485 wet and 15,200 dry perlemoen along with equipment.
The three suspects were set to appear in the Athlone Magistrate’s Court on Tuesday, 17 September.
Perlemoen (abalone) is a species of large sea snail. A thriving black market exists for it, leading to a catastrophic decline in stocks.
Hakai magazine reports that Chinese mafia groups, in alliance with South African drug cartels, have taken control of the market, sometimes exchanging abalone for chemicals like ephedrine, used to manufacture tik (crystal meth).
Pictured above: Police seized perlemoen worth more than R10.3-million in Philippi and arrested three foreign nationals.
Source: Supplied
