Abalone poachers, cops in shootout
27 August 2009, 06:06
Violence erupted in Hawston on Tuesday night when a handful of police and conservation officials were ambushed in the house of suspected abalone poachers, who hurled rocks through the windows, slashed vehicle tyres and fired at the officials with live ammunition.
The police and unarmed Marine and Coastal Management (MCM) inspectors took cover under tables in the house to escape the onslaught from the mob of about 80.
The poachers, who had 9 600 fresh abalone on the property, were fighting to keep their illegal haul worth about R4-million.
This is the latest incident in a series of violent clashes between poaching gangs and the law in what is escalating into a small war on the southern Cape coast, where the rocketing international price of abalone is fuelling the illegal trade.
Abalone poaching has increased by about 300 percent in the past three years, and sources say Chinese nationals exchange drugs for abalone.
And in Benoni on Wednesday, officials from MCM, the Green Scorpions and the organised crime unit bust an illegal abalone processing facility on a farm where they seized close on 10 000 dried abalone and arrested two Chinese nationals.
Another two Chinese nationals were arrested between Gordons Bay and Rooi Els on Wednesday with a van carrying 6 000 abalone.
The violent clash in Hawston was triggered after Hermanus police and MCM inspectors established that a large shipment of freshly poached abalone had been taken to Hawston.
Senior Superintendent Phindelwa Mavakala of the Hermanus police said on Wednesday eight police officers and four MCM inspectors had gone to the house in Hawston, where they found a group of about 50 men counting fresh, shelled abalone in the backyard.
The group scattered, jumping over fences when they saw the police, she said. They disappeared in the dark between the houses.
"While the police were loading the abalone into a van, a crowd gathered and started throwing stones at the police and slashed the tyres of the van. There were about 80 to 100 people and the police were forced to run into the house," Mavakala said. "Some of the mob fired with live ammunition, and police took cover under tables and behind furniture, and called for back-up."
Police from Stanford and Kleinmond and reinforcements from Hermanus, and MCM inspectors, sped to the scene.
An eyewitness said about 30 law enforcement vehicles converged at the street, but the mob had blocked it and they could not at first get to the house.
Police fired rubber bullets to try to disperse the mob, but when the mob fired back, police used live ammunition.
The mob eventually dispersed and the vans moved to the house and seized the abalone. No arrests were made.
One Hawston man was shot in the stomach and taken to Hermanus Hospital, where he was stabilised. Police officers escaped with minor injuries.
melanie.gosling@inl.co.za
The police and unarmed Marine and Coastal Management (MCM) inspectors took cover under tables in the house to escape the onslaught from the mob of about 80.
The poachers, who had 9 600 fresh abalone on the property, were fighting to keep their illegal haul worth about R4-million.
This is the latest incident in a series of violent clashes between poaching gangs and the law in what is escalating into a small war on the southern Cape coast, where the rocketing international price of abalone is fuelling the illegal trade.
Abalone poaching has increased by about 300 percent in the past three years, and sources say Chinese nationals exchange drugs for abalone.
And in Benoni on Wednesday, officials from MCM, the Green Scorpions and the organised crime unit bust an illegal abalone processing facility on a farm where they seized close on 10 000 dried abalone and arrested two Chinese nationals.
Another two Chinese nationals were arrested between Gordons Bay and Rooi Els on Wednesday with a van carrying 6 000 abalone.
The violent clash in Hawston was triggered after Hermanus police and MCM inspectors established that a large shipment of freshly poached abalone had been taken to Hawston.
Senior Superintendent Phindelwa Mavakala of the Hermanus police said on Wednesday eight police officers and four MCM inspectors had gone to the house in Hawston, where they found a group of about 50 men counting fresh, shelled abalone in the backyard.
The group scattered, jumping over fences when they saw the police, she said. They disappeared in the dark between the houses.
"While the police were loading the abalone into a van, a crowd gathered and started throwing stones at the police and slashed the tyres of the van. There were about 80 to 100 people and the police were forced to run into the house," Mavakala said. "Some of the mob fired with live ammunition, and police took cover under tables and behind furniture, and called for back-up."
Police from Stanford and Kleinmond and reinforcements from Hermanus, and MCM inspectors, sped to the scene.
An eyewitness said about 30 law enforcement vehicles converged at the street, but the mob had blocked it and they could not at first get to the house.
Police fired rubber bullets to try to disperse the mob, but when the mob fired back, police used live ammunition.
The mob eventually dispersed and the vans moved to the house and seized the abalone. No arrests were made.
One Hawston man was shot in the stomach and taken to Hermanus Hospital, where he was stabilised. Police officers escaped with minor injuries.
- This article was originally published on page 1 of The Cape Times on August 27, 2009
Cape Town
