ARNISTON, South Africa (29 Jan 2004) -- A battle erupted between a mob of about 30 alleged perlemoen poachers and police near Arniston on Wednesday, with police firing stun grenades and rubber bullets and the group hurling rocks at a police helicopter and setting a dog on the law enforcement men. One of the suspected poachers allegedly attacked a police officer with a diving knife. This is the latest incident of violence between suspected perlemoen poachers and the authorities as stripping of this dwindling, but highly lucrative, resource intensifies on the southern Cape coast. The incident occurred around midday on Tuesday during a helicopter coastal patrol by anti-poaching unit Operation Neptune, made up of police and law enforcement staff of the Department of Environment's Marine and Coastal Management. Police spokesperson Elna de Beer said on Wednesday that Operation Neptune officers had been doing a patrol on the coast near Arniston when they spotted about 30 divers in the water. There is a total ban on removing perlemoen from the sea. The police tried to drive the suspected poachers out of the sea by flying the helicopter low over the water, but were unable to flush them out. One of the divers then came out of the sea, dropped a bag on the shore and went back into the water. The police helicopter dropped eight officers - police and Marine and Coastal Management staff - onto the shore. | | According to De Beer, the man who had dropped the bag re-emerged from the sea with a diver's knife and attacked the law enforcement officers. Police fired warning shots into the sand and the man fled back into the sea. More divers emerged and a battle erupted between them and Operation Neptune. Police opened fire with rubber bullets. While the police tried to arrest the man with the knife, a group of about 30 local residents came to the aid of the divers and tried to stop police arresting the man. One of the residents set his dog on one of the officers. Police then fired four stun grenades. A 31-year-old man from Kassiesbaak was arrested and is in police custody. He has been charged with public violence, illegal possession of perlemoen, resisting arrest and attempted murder. Police confiscated 20 undersized perlemoen and diving equipment. At the weekend police fired rubber bullets at poachers in Hawston, injuring one man, when they seized a powerful inflatable boat and 4x4 bakkie which they allege belonged to a "well-known poacher". SOURCE - Independent Online |
