{"id":77695,"date":"2018-01-22T12:56:29","date_gmt":"2018-01-22T10:56:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mobserver.co.za\/?p=77695"},"modified":"2018-01-23T11:52:09","modified_gmt":"2018-01-23T09:52:09","slug":"local-farmer-joins-chinese-nationals-accused-bench-rhino-horn","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/develop.citizen.co.za\/middelburg-observer\/news-headlines\/2018\/01\/22\/local-farmer-joins-chinese-nationals-accused-bench-rhino-horn\/","title":{"rendered":"Local farmer joins Chinese nationals in accused bench over rhino horn"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>According to capt. Dineo Sekgotodi, Hawks spokesperson, the initial arrest of <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/China\" target=\"_blank\">Chinese nationals<\/a> Yansen Fenc (age unknown) and Liu Li Hong (32) was made on a gravel road outside Middelburg. The Hawks, acting on a tip-off, stopped a Lexus Fenc and Hong were driving in.<\/p>\n<p>A rhino horn, valued at R175 000 was discovered cable-tied to the chassis of the vehicle. Mandrax were also found hidden in a tissue box. Capt. Sekgotodi said that police also confiscated R24 000 cash from the vehicle.<\/p>\n<p>Capt. Sekgotodi said that further investigation into the matter lead to the arrest of three more people.<\/p>\n<p>Deon Cornelius from Middelburg as well as Jozeph Albertus du Plessis (71) and Susanna Johanna du Plessis (55) from <a href=\"http:\/\/www.alittleguesthouse.co.za\/bainsvlei-brief-history\/\" target=\"_blank\">Bainsvlei<\/a>\u00a0near <a href=\"https:\/\/www.places.co.za\/html\/bloemfontein.html\" target=\"_blank\">Bloemfontein<\/a>, have all been released on R1 000 bail.<\/p>\n<p>A further R675 000 in cash was seized from Cornelius.<\/p>\n<p>Hong also face an additional charge of ivory possession after elephant ivory were found in her room in\u00a0Mabopane Pretoria<\/p>\n<p>All five suspects will appear in the Middelburg Magistrate\u2019s Court on Thursday.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3>Also read:<\/h3>\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/mobserver.co.za\/28573\/police-arrested-for-rhino-poaching-2\/\" target=\"_blank\">Police arrested for rhino poaching<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/mobserver.co.za\/afp\/261103\/s-africas-top-court-opens-up-domestic-trade-in-rhino-horn\" target=\"_blank\">SA&#8217;s top court opens up domestic trade in rhino horn<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/mobserver.co.za\/afp\/228792\/s-african-police-nab-chinese-man-with-18-rhino-horns\" target=\"_blank\"><strong>SA police nab Chinese man with 18 rhino horns<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The recent arrest of two Chinese nationals near Middelburg, has led to three more arrests, including a local game farmer from Middelburg.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5031,"featured_media":32388,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"hasGravity":false,"cxt_article_byline":"Jana Boshoff","cxt_disable_google_ads":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,2],"tags":[10192,8544,10190,10189,10193,10010,21966,10191,4083,1986,1532,10195,9276,10194],"class_list":["post-77695","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local-news","category-news-headlines","tag-bainsvlei","tag-bloemfontein","tag-chines","tag-deon-cornelius","tag-liu-li-hong","tag-local-news","tag-middelburg","tag-poaching-syndicate","tag-rhino-horn","tag-rhino-horn-smuggling","tag-rhino-poaching","tag-smuggling","tag-trusted-news-source","tag-yansen-fenc"],"category_labels":{"Category":"News","SubCategory":"Local news"},"tag_labels":["bainsvlei","bloemfontein","chines","deon cornelius","Liu Li Hong","local news","middelburg","poaching syndicate","Rhino horn","Rhino horn smuggling","rhino poaching","smuggling","trusted news source","Yansen Fenc"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/develop.citizen.co.za\/middelburg-observer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77695","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/develop.citizen.co.za\/middelburg-observer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/develop.citizen.co.za\/middelburg-observer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/develop.citizen.co.za\/middelburg-observer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5031"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/develop.citizen.co.za\/middelburg-observer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=77695"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/develop.citizen.co.za\/middelburg-observer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77695\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/develop.citizen.co.za\/middelburg-observer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32388"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/develop.citizen.co.za\/middelburg-observer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=77695"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/develop.citizen.co.za\/middelburg-observer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=77695"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/develop.citizen.co.za\/middelburg-observer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=77695"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}