Lawyers for Rajendran Moodley, Sithembiso Luthuli and Samgelo Sibiya said their clients intended to plead not guilty to the two charges that each man faced.

The three are applying for bail.

State prosecutor Krishen Shah said the State had a “watertight case”.

The three men were nabbed in a sting operation on March 18, after Moodley approached an undercover policeman and allegedly tried to sell him a rhino horn.

Shah said the one-metre-long horn weighed 6.5kg and would earn about US60,000 per kilogram, or a total of about R3 million.

The men had allegedly attempted to sell the horn for R1.5 million.

Lawyer Sibusiso Mndaba said both his clients — Luthuli and Sibiya — could afford to pay bail of R10,000 each.

Moodley’s lawyer said his client could afford R20,000 bail, and that his fruit and vegetable business had suffered since his arrest.

The court was told Luthuli worked for Transnet. Sibiya, 47, suffered from diabetes and operated a driving school. All three claimed they were not a flight risk.

However, Shah argued the three were part of a syndicate and “had become a liability” to that syndicate.

The State, he said, could not guarantee their safety if they were released.

Each man faces one charge of dealing in rhino horn and another of illegal possession of rhino horn.

Comments

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Thu May 23 05:48:38 SAST 2013 ::

Jul 5, 2012

CheeseBoy

The punishment should fit the crime.

drop them in the middle of Kruger national park with nothing but a knife. and let them survive rhinos and other wild animals there. who ever survives gets to walk away.
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Jul 5, 2012

LBS

If the safety of our rhino can't be guaranteed why worry about this trash?
Let them suffer the consequences of dealing in/and destroying our willd life.

To view the horrific suffering caused by this scum go to

http ://www.indiegogo.com/rhinos?a=747499

remove the space between http and :
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Jul 5, 2012

LBS

Hi CheeseBoy - The rhino don't get a fighting chance why should they?

No knife no weapons of any sort. Hopefully they would get caught in a snare and suffer a long painful death!!
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Jul 5, 2012

eisleben

Transnet people are 'always' involved in the horn crime value chain. Maybe they are used as couriers. I know of one dude who was caught with an elephant tuks a while ago. A strange trio, not.
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Jul 5, 2012

Rosco

Can afford R 20 000.00 bail selling fruits and veggies,does he own the fruit farm?Clearly they are not falsely accused.
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Jul 5, 2012

shaharazad

Hi Cheeseboy & LBS- That is poetic justice, eye for an eye.

If they can afford R20K bail, who said they wont abscond and go to retrieve their hidden 'stock' and disappear? Rhino horn trade is lucrative to these walking oil-slicks. The judge should set the bail at R25million each and place them under house arrest
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Jul 5, 2012

CheeseBoy

@LBS

you right, a knife is too much. they need to be unprotected just like the rhinos they hunt.
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