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Leonard Ncube , Victoria Falls Reporter
TWO Victoria Falls men, one of them a neighbourhood watch committee (NWC) member, have been fined $6 000 each for trapping animals with wire snares.

Philani Nyoni (48), a member of the constabulary, of 8280 Mkhosana and Christopher Ndlovu (54) of 5726 in the same suburb will be jailed for two months if they fail to pay the fine.

In addition, the duo was sentenced to six months in prison which were wholly suspended for five years on condition of good behaviour.

Nyoni and Ndlovu, who are suspected to be part of a gang of poachers that had been trapping animals using wire snares around Victoria Falls, were convicted on their own plea of guilty to possessing Class One wire snares for the purpose of trapping any animal when they appeared before Victoria Falls resident magistrate Ms Lindiwe Maphosa.

Prosecuting, Mr Asher Chindedza said the duo was arrested on September 23 at midnight.

They were in the company of four accomplices who escaped after an encounter with an anti-poaching team comprising game scouts from the Victoria Falls Anti-Poaching Unit (VFAPU), Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management rangers and police.

The gang initially charged at the anti-poaching team but fled after realising that they were armed with guns.

The anti-poaching team was on routine patrol at midnight when it bumped into the gang of six men that were armed with knives, spears, axes and wire snares.

There had been reports of killings of buffalos, zebras and hyenas around Victoria Falls and near the Zambezi Gorges, where illegal hunters set wire snares to trap the animals.

The anti-poaching units teamed up to patrol the area resulting in the arrests.

Meanwhile, appearing before a different magistrate at the same courthouse, Stanley Takavada (44) of 5559 Mkhosana was charged with acquiring, possessing, or transferring raw unmarked ivory without a permit after three elephant tusks weighing 5,59kg were found in a car that he had just sold on auction.

Takavada’s vehicle was sold at an auction conducted by the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (Zimra) last  Tuesday and the new owner discovered the ivory afterwards and reported the matter to the police who set up a trap.

“On the 5th of October at 2pm the informant bought a Toyota Gaia at a public auction at Zimra Victoria Falls and the vehicle is registered in the name of the accused. The informant towed the vehicle to a garage near Vehicle Inspection Department Victoria Falls depot where he later discovered two unmarked tusks hidden in the spare wheel compartment and another one under the back seat,” said the prosecutor.

The accused allegedly phoned the new owner requesting to collect “his things” that he had forgotten in the car.

Police laid ambush and the accused approached the car where he took out the tusks which were in sacks.

He was arrested on the scene. The tusks were valued at $80 775.-@ncubeleon