Pretoria: 30 November2015 – A 35-year old Mozambican national is expected to appear tomorrow in absentia in the Nelspruit Magistrate’s Court after he was arrested at the weekend for trespassing and for unlawful possession a firearm and ammunition.
The suspect was found by the Kruger National Park’s rangers in the Crocodile Bridge Section, not far from the border with Mozambique. He was in the company of a friend who, instead of surrendering when he was ordered to do so by the rangers, opted to reach for the firearm. Both were shot at but the one who attempted to shoot at the rangers was fatally wounded.
At the crime scene members of the South African Police Service (SAPS) recovered a .458 CZ 550 hunting rifle, 10 rounds of ammunition suited to the same hunting rifle, a silencer, an axe, three cellular phones and back packs.
The Kruger National Park Rhino Task Team (KNPRTT) has been hard at work this year. In the past 12 months alone the KNPRTT has arrested more than 170 suspects who were found in various sections of the park.
