Read Online Killing for Profit: Exposing the Illegal Rhino Horn Trade by Julian Rademeyer - Free Book Online
Book: Killing for Profit: Exposing the Illegal Rhino Horn Trade by Julian Rademeyer
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Authors: Julian Rademeyer
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government was seeking the extradition of three South Africans, including an army sergeant major in a parachute unit, who smuggled a rhinoceros horn into this country while attending a sky-diving event.
More arrests were possible from the undercover investigation that began in February, said US Attorney Stanley A. Twardy Jnr as he announced the arrests during a news conference.
Twardy said he had no idea how long the smugglers had been in business, nor was he able to say how many others did business with the group.
But those charged in the scheme indicated they had enough rhino horns to earn hundreds of thousands of dollars.
‘This is something that is unique, at least in my experience,’ Twardy said.
Events move quickly. There are fiery exchanges on diplomatic channels between Washington and Pretoria. The FBI, working with the state and justice departments, is negotiating with the South African authorities for the immediate extradition of Marius and Pat Meiring, along with Schutte. It’s not going well. The South Africans are, as can be expected, enraged, defensive and obstructive. Perhaps
too
defensive.
The South Africans’ sensitivity can be traced to an event that occurred four months before Lukman’s arrest. On 14 July 1988, an American environmentalist, Craig van Note, presented a written statement to a US congressional committee. South Africa, he claimed, had become ‘one of the largest wildlife outlaws in the world’.
‘According to reliable sources in Africa, a massive smuggling ring has been operating for years, with the complicity of South African officials at the highest level of government and military, to funnel ivory and other contraband out of Africa.
‘Jonas Savimbi and his UNITA rebel forces in Angola, largely supplied by South Africa, have ruthlessly liquidated perhaps 100 000 elephants to help finance the war. Most of the tusks have been carried out on South African air transports or trucks … the South African staging post at Rundu in the Caprivi Strip warehouses the contraband. Tractor-trailers then transport the ivory across South West Africa to South Africa … The South African military has cynically aided the virtual annihilation of the once-great elephant herds of Angola.’ The rhino population had also been targeted, Van Note said.
South Africa demanded Van Note identify his sources and turn over evidence backing his claims. He refused. But the barrage of publicity unleashed by his revelations had done damage. Brigadier Ben de Wet Roos, who had commanded South African troops during the invasion of Angola in 1976, was hauled out of retirement to head a military board of inquiry. Its terms of reference are restricted to allegations of illegal trade in ivory. The hearings are held in secret and the final report classified and buried.
On a chilly November day, a federal grand jury indicts eight people implicated in the ‘Wiseguy’ sting. Lukman, the ringleader, will be arraigned on seventeen charges, including counts of conspiracy to smuggle endangered species and AK-47s. He faces up to seventy-seven years in the slammer if convicted, the press tell their readers. He’s out on a $227 000 bond, which was posted by his father. Russell Beveridge, thirty-three, the friend who was entrusted with the horn Lukman had fetched from Chicago, faces a twenty-one-year sentence. Mary Ann McAllister, also thirty-three, Lukman’s girlfriend, is looking at eleven years in prison. Isaac Saada, fifty-two, the guy from New Jersey who had bought the stuffed leopard from Lukman in February, could go down for seven. Martin Sher, forty-three, is accused of conspiring to import and sell a leopard-skin rug. He’s a bit-player. Six years.
And then there are the South Africans: Marius and Pat Meiring, and Sergeant Major Waldemar Schutte. For now, they’re safe in South Africa. But, if they are ever extradited, the Meirings will face ten counts each and a possible fifty years in jail, along with $2.5
More arrests were possible from the undercover investigation that began in February, said US Attorney Stanley A. Twardy Jnr as he announced the arrests during a news conference.
Twardy said he had no idea how long the smugglers had been in business, nor was he able to say how many others did business with the group.
But those charged in the scheme indicated they had enough rhino horns to earn hundreds of thousands of dollars.
‘This is something that is unique, at least in my experience,’ Twardy said.
Events move quickly. There are fiery exchanges on diplomatic channels between Washington and Pretoria. The FBI, working with the state and justice departments, is negotiating with the South African authorities for the immediate extradition of Marius and Pat Meiring, along with Schutte. It’s not going well. The South Africans are, as can be expected, enraged, defensive and obstructive. Perhaps
too
defensive.
The South Africans’ sensitivity can be traced to an event that occurred four months before Lukman’s arrest. On 14 July 1988, an American environmentalist, Craig van Note, presented a written statement to a US congressional committee. South Africa, he claimed, had become ‘one of the largest wildlife outlaws in the world’.
‘According to reliable sources in Africa, a massive smuggling ring has been operating for years, with the complicity of South African officials at the highest level of government and military, to funnel ivory and other contraband out of Africa.
‘Jonas Savimbi and his UNITA rebel forces in Angola, largely supplied by South Africa, have ruthlessly liquidated perhaps 100 000 elephants to help finance the war. Most of the tusks have been carried out on South African air transports or trucks … the South African staging post at Rundu in the Caprivi Strip warehouses the contraband. Tractor-trailers then transport the ivory across South West Africa to South Africa … The South African military has cynically aided the virtual annihilation of the once-great elephant herds of Angola.’ The rhino population had also been targeted, Van Note said.
South Africa demanded Van Note identify his sources and turn over evidence backing his claims. He refused. But the barrage of publicity unleashed by his revelations had done damage. Brigadier Ben de Wet Roos, who had commanded South African troops during the invasion of Angola in 1976, was hauled out of retirement to head a military board of inquiry. Its terms of reference are restricted to allegations of illegal trade in ivory. The hearings are held in secret and the final report classified and buried.
On a chilly November day, a federal grand jury indicts eight people implicated in the ‘Wiseguy’ sting. Lukman, the ringleader, will be arraigned on seventeen charges, including counts of conspiracy to smuggle endangered species and AK-47s. He faces up to seventy-seven years in the slammer if convicted, the press tell their readers. He’s out on a $227 000 bond, which was posted by his father. Russell Beveridge, thirty-three, the friend who was entrusted with the horn Lukman had fetched from Chicago, faces a twenty-one-year sentence. Mary Ann McAllister, also thirty-three, Lukman’s girlfriend, is looking at eleven years in prison. Isaac Saada, fifty-two, the guy from New Jersey who had bought the stuffed leopard from Lukman in February, could go down for seven. Martin Sher, forty-three, is accused of conspiring to import and sell a leopard-skin rug. He’s a bit-player. Six years.
And then there are the South Africans: Marius and Pat Meiring, and Sergeant Major Waldemar Schutte. For now, they’re safe in South Africa. But, if they are ever extradited, the Meirings will face ten counts each and a possible fifty years in jail, along with $2.5
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