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Cops nab perlemoen smugglers
13/01/2005 11:17 - (SA)
Ziegfried Ekron, Die Burger
Cape Town - Western Cape police scored a second major victory within a week against suspected perlemoen poachers on Wednesday.
Police officers arrested six people in the early hours of Wednesday morning and seized two tons of perlemoen valued at R700 000.
Captain William Reid for police said detectives, acting on a tip-off, cracked down on a house in Delft on the Cape Flats about 01:20 on Wednesday.
"They arrested a 38-year-old woman, her son of 16 and four other people.
"They also seized chest freezers and a refrigerator, plastic containers and two scales."
This find came less than a week after members of the police unit against organised crime arrested a well-known Belhar pastor, members of his family and church members on charges of illegal possession of perlemoen.
Police arrested Pastor Albern Martins, his wife Minnie, his son Elton, and Spencer Petersen, a member of the band of the Faith Christian Fellowship church, on Thursday last week after 14 tons of perlemoen were found in two warehouses in Blackheath.
The black market value of this perlemoen cache is put at approximately R4.3m.
Minnie Martins was released on R5 000 bail on Monday.
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