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News24
an hour ago
- News24
SA man with 56 000 child abuse images arrested as international operation nets major bust
Police found over 56 000 videos and images depicting child sexual abuse during a raid at the man's Standerton home, along with 15 licensed firearms and digital devices. The arrest was part of Operation Bad Vibes, a joint initiative between SAPS, US Homeland Security Investigations, and the US Embassy launched in 2023. The man appeared in court on Thursday after his Wednesday arrest, with a bail application on Monday. A 59-year-old man from Mpumalanga who was arrested with over 56 000 child abuse videos and images is expected to make a formal bail application on Monday. The man was arrested on Wednesday at his home in Standerton during a police operation, as part of Operation Bad Vibes, a joint initiative between the South African Police Service, US Homeland Security Investigations, and the US Embassy. 'During the operation, the team also seized 15 licensed firearms and several digital devices,' said police spokesperson Lieutenant-Colonel Amanda van Wyk. While police were processing the scene, Van Wyk said, forensic experts uncovered more than 56 000 videos and images depicting child sexual abuse. She said the operation was led by the Serial and Electronic Crime Investigations unit in Mpumalanga, with support from Department of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), US Embassy, the Local Criminal Record Centre, and designated firearm officers in Standerton. 'Initiated in 2023, Operation Bad Vibes is a joint initiative between the SAPS, HSI, US Embassy, aimed at tracing and arresting individuals in South Africa who are linked to accessing, possession, manufacturing, and distribution of child sexual abuse material on a global scale,' Van Wyk added. The man appeared in the Standerton Magistrate's Court on Thursday. The case was postponed to Monday for a formal bail application.
News24
2 hours ago
- News24
1 000 illegal miners arrested in Mpumalanga police sweep
Police in Mpumalanga have arrested some 1 000 undocumented migrants working in gold mines in the northeast of the country. Provincial police spokesperson Donald Mdhluli told AFP there could still be more arrests because there were still illegal miners underground. "As they are coming out, they have been taken," he said. The week-long police operation, which started on Monday, targeted clandestine mining near the village of Barberton, close to the borders of Eswatini and Mozambique. The Sheba Mine is owned by Barberton Mines, who said in a statement: "Earlier this year there was outcry from the community and employees when Barberton Mines retrenched workers as the mine was unprofitable and facing closure. Now we know the reason why! "Food and supplies have been getting to a thriving illegal mining world underground, which had to be stopped, hence this intervention with the police and mine security. This message needs to be spread and illegal mining will not be tolerated," it added. Mdhluli said that "about 1 000 illegal miners who are also illegal immigrants have been arrested", adding that it was a joint operation between mine security and the police. He said that "there are no fatalities recorded so far". The arrests come less than a year after a similar operation was conducted near the town of Stilfontein, west of Johannesburg, where at least 90 clandestine miners lost their lives before their mines were definitively shut in January. As in the Stilfontein operation, police near Barberton surrounded the illegal mine to prevent supplies entering, forcing those inside to come to the surface.
Yahoo
4 hours ago
- Yahoo
Rage Over New Trophy Hunting Slaying Echoes Cecil the Lion
Outrage has erupted after a trophy hunter killed a lion named Blondie who was part of an Oxford University study after allegedly luring it out of a wildlife reserve. Africa Geographic, the safari company that sponsored Blondie's tracking collar, claims that the 5-year-old male lion was coaxed with bait into a hunting area over a period of weeks in June. The company also posted a photo to Facebook that they say shows the hunter and his guides standing over the lion's carcass. Africa Geographic CEO Simon Espley told the Associated Press that the killing made 'a mockery of the ethics' that hunters say they hold, as Blondie was a breeding male in his prime with a visible collar. 'That Blondie's prominent collar did not prevent him from being offered to a hunting client confirms the stark reality that no lion is safe from trophy hunting guns,' Espley said. Tinashe Farawo, a spokesperson for Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority, defended the slaying in a statement to the AP. He said that he is not aware of evidence that Blondie was lured but added that there 'is nothing unethical or illegal about that for anyone who knows how lions are hunted. This is how people hunt.' 'Our rangers were present,' Farawo said. 'All paperwork was in order. Collars are for research purposes, but they don't make the animal immune to hunting.' Farawo declined to reveal the hunter's identity to the Associated Press, and while there has been speculation about the person's identity, it remains unconfirmed. While hunting lions has been banned in some African nations, it remains legal in Zimbabwe. Lions are classified as a vulnerable species, with just 20,000 remaining in Africa. Blondie's death echoes the slaying of Cecil, a lion from the same reserve in Zimbabwe, who was lured away and killed by an American hunter almost exactly 10 years earlier. The killing of Cecil ignited fury and protests against the hunter behind it—Minnesota dentist Walter Palmer—and brought attention to the issue of big game trophy hunting. Palmer reportedly paid $50,000 to his guides to help give him the opportunity to kill Cecil, which he did using a bow and arrow. After the outcry, Palmer expressed regret. 'If I had known this lion had a name and was important to the country or a study, obviously I wouldn't have taken it,' he said. 'Nobody in our hunting party knew before or after the name of this lion.'
