Weapons and kreef captured
HAUL: Klomp crayfish.
The City of Cape Town’s Law Enforcement Marine Unit bagged the catch of the day after confiscating more than 5 000 crayfish tails in Steenberg.
The officials followed up on a tip-off from the National Department of Forestry Fisheries and Environment (DFFE), which had asked for help with a search at a residence in Chief Road, Steenberg.
The units, with the SAPS National Intervention Unit, discovered 10 whole crayfish, 20 crayfish tails, two imitation firearms, two unlicensed firearms and 55 rounds of ammunition.
A 36-year-old man was arrested. JP Smith, Mayco member for Safety and Security, said officers, as well as the Anti-Gang Unit, followed up on additional information of a premises in Squaw Road, and found a moerse haul of 5367 crayfish tails in four freezers.
“A further search uncovered another unlicensed firearm. The three occupants of the premises were placed under arrest.”
Smith claimed that there was a connection between poaching and gang activity: “The link has been long established, with the demand for crayfish and abalone on Asian black markets soaring.
“The trade of illegal poaching has become a lucrative commodity for gangs across the Cape Flats, but as gang activity has increased over the Steenberg, Retreat and Lavender Hill areas, so has drug dealing, poaching operations and firearm conflict.
“The success of these combined efforts again dispels the contradictory remarks of those who often advocate for the innocence of those taken into custody, who thereby claim ‘poaching activity is simply those seeking a source of food’ or those that are looking to the oceans for livelihood.”