11 Mar 2015

A senior police officer has decried the alarming rate at which people are caught with elephant tusks and other wildlife products in his policing area.

Senior Superintendent Chabaesele Kesupetswe said the incidents were increasing at a fast rate, adding that Batswana connived with foreigners in poaching activities. He said poaching had become a serious threat to the country’s economy, adding that if not stopped it could deplete the countries wildlife resources.

He said they had embarked on a massive search of a syndicate that connived with some foreigners. He added that arrested foreign poachers protected their Batswana counterparts. Another senior police officer, Detective Silas Motsise of the Nicotine and Fauna investigative unit said they recently arrested  a Zambian man for unlawful possession of eight pieces of elephant tusks.

Detective Motsise said the 50-year-old man was arrested at one of the lodges in Maun.  He added that they were working on a tip off when they arrested him and searched his vehicle.  The man, he added, has appeared before a Maun magistrate to answer for a single count of unlawful possession of government trophy. 

Sen. Supt Kesupetswe said they had embarked on a public education campaign through kgotla meetings to sensitise the community in affected areas about the threat of poaching. He added that they also conduct joint patrols with members of the Botswana Defence Force and Department of Wildlife and National Parks. 

He noted that during their patrols, they have come found elephant carcasses with their tusks removed. He also decried the lack of cooperation from communities in affected areas. 

He emphasised that they depend on community members giving them information, but that communities were not coming forth to report suspicious people. He urged the public to report incidents of poaching and other wildlife crimes, noting that they contribute to the country’s economic growth and attract tourists.

On other issues, Shakawe police are investigating a murder incident in which a 35-year-old woman was found in a pool of blood along the road on Sunday. 

Sen. Superintendent Kesupetswe said the deceased was seen by a passer-by who reported the matter to the police. The woman, he said, had a deep wound above the left eye, and that they suspect a sharp object was used.

The woman, who originates from Shakawe, was certified dead on arrival at Shakawe Primary Hospital. Two suspects, a man and a woman, are assisting police in investigations. 

Meanwhile, Maun police are investigating a house breaking incident at Boronyane where a home theatre and two lap tops worth over P8 000 were stolen on Sunday. Sen. Supt Kesupetswe said the owner of the house was in Etsha 6 when the incident happened. No one has been arrested. ENDS