Six arrested in major abalone busts

Abalone worth several millon rand was confiscated in Cape Town last week, in two separate busts, resulting in the arrests of six suspects. According to a News24 report, the first bust took place at a farm on Bottelary Road in Brackenfell, when police responded to a tip-off. ‘The seizure at the crime scene comprised 6 878 units of fresh abalone, 24 922 units of dry abalone and equipment used for the processing of abalone,’ police spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Andre Traut confirmed. Two suspects – aged 43 and 46 – were arrested for operating an illegal abalone processing facility. Half an hour later, officers acting on information stopped and searched a cold storage truck in Montague Gardens. ‘This search led to the discovery of 213 bags of frozen abalone with an approximate weight of five tons,’ Traut said. A woman (23) and three men – aged 24, 26 and 37 – were arrested for abalone possession and the truck was confiscated. ‘The exact value of the abalone confiscated during the two operations is yet to be determined. However it is estimated at millions of rand, and deemed a significant blow to the illegal abalone trade in this province,’ Traut said, according to the report. The suspects in the Brackenfell bust are expected in the Kuils River Magistrate's Court once charged, while the four nabbed in Montague Gardens will appear in the Cape Town Magistrate's Court.

Fourteen men and women of Chinese descent appeared in the Cape Town Magistrate’s Court yesterday on charges of the illegal possession of abalone and shark fins valued at R5.5m, notes a report in The Herald. However, their lawyer‚ Leon van der Merwe‚ claimed they only had had 80 pieces of abalone in the house when the police bust took place and that the shark fins were in fact fish belly. He said the suspects were friends and neighbours who got together at a home to play a card game. The group refused to say what the abalone was for. The men and women were released on bail of R500 each.