Hawks seize a live pangolin and arrest five in White River sting

Text poster only. The source photo shows a pangolin curled into a ball of brown overlapping scales, its tail wrapped around it, on the rubber floor mat of a vehicle's rear compartment next to a blue plastic water bowl. — South African Police Service (@SAPoliceService), watch at source · Link-only (source-hosted; not rehosted)

Photo posted Oct. 20, 2026 by the South African Police Service. SAPS says the Hawks' Nelspruit Serious Organised Crime Investigation unit, with the White River K9 Unit, ran a sting at about 09:55 that day at a scrap metal business in Rockeys Drift, White River, where five suspects aged 34 to 58 allegedly intended to sell a live pangolin for R500,000. Police say the pangolin was seized alive and handed to the Mpumalanga Tourism and Parks Agency for veterinary care, two vehicles were seized, and the suspects were due in court on Oct. 21 on a charge of conveyance of a live wild animal. The photo shows the curled-up pangolin in the back of a vehicle beside a water bowl.

What: Hawks seize a live pangolin and arrest five in White River sting
Where: White River, Mpumalanga, South Africa
When: 2026-10-20
Source: South African Police Service
Credit: South African Police Service (@SAPoliceService), watch at source
License: Link-only (source-hosted; not rehosted)
Details: Official release · South African Police Service (@SAPoliceService), Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (Hawks), Mpumalanga · White River, Mpumalanga, South Africa

Aftermath unspecified new south-africa mpumalanga white-river hawks pangolin wildlife-crime

Hawks seize a live pangolin and arrest five in White River sting

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