The buck stops here - South Africans arrested in smuggling syndicate

Zambian authorities have smashed an alleged endangered wildlife smuggling syndicate‚ arresting six South Africans and seizing a specially equipped light aircraft‚ vehicles‚ weapons and veterinary drugs.

The men detained include hunters and game capturers from Gauteng‚ Limpopo‚ KwaZulu-Natal and North West. They were arrested in a military operation in southern Zambia‚ near Lake Kariba‚ during the early hours of Saturday.

Zambian air force personnel and officials of that country’s wildlife authority arrested the six South Africans and a Zimbabwean as they were allegedly off-loading 12 sable antelope calves from a trailer and preparing to put them into a Piper Navajo Chieftain aircraft‚ parked under trees near a dirt landing strip in the bush.