Johannesburg - A multidisciplinary team uncovered an illegal abalone drying facility in Killarney Gardens, Cape Town during a search and seizure operation on Monday.
The Hawks announced that its Economic Protected Resources and South African Narcotics Enforcement Bureau teams, together with Crime Intelligence and officials from the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment, have arrested four suspects for allegedly running an abalone processing facility.
“The team found 8 993 units weighing 2 475.91 kg of wet abalone, kept in plastic buckets, with an estimated street value of more than R4.5 million,” said Western Cape Hawks spokesperson Zinzi Hani.
The four suspects, aged between 24 and 39, are expected to appear in the Cape Town Magistrate’s Court on Wednesday.
The Star