Rhino poaching gangster ‘Navara’ gets 27 years in prison

Mozambican gangster Simon Valoi and one of his accomplices, Paulo Zucula, were convicted of multiple crimes on August 16 by the Maputo provincial court in the southern city of Matola.

Valoi, who was nicknamed ‘Navara’ for his penchant for stealing and driving expensive 4×4 SUVs such as the Nissan Navara, was sentenced to 27 years in prison and Zucula to 24 years.

Valoi (47) first came to international attention in 2015 after he kidnapped German journalist Bartholomäus Grill and Swedish photographer Toby Selander in the Mozambican village of Mavodze in the Massingir district, near the border with South Africa.

Grill later described his ordeal in a report on the German news website Der Spiegel.

Mozambican news agency AIM reported that the court found Valoi and Zucula guilty of crimes including “financing of terrorism, poaching, sale of protected species, money laundering, use of prohibited weapons, use of forged documents, sale and purchase of illegal weapons and vehicles and criminal conspiracy”.

Some of these crimes were committed in South Africa.

Read more: Kruger’s rhinos continue to face ongoing threats and catastrophic population declines

Valoi’s wealth and apparent popularity as a recruiter of young men for rhino poachers in his district appeared to shield him from prosecution, until he was finally arrested in 2022.

According to AIM, Valoi and Zucula were arrested during a joint operation between Mozambique’s National Criminal Investigation Service (SERNIC) and conservation organizations, in particular the Wildlife Justice Commission.

In an August 22 statement, a spokesperson for the Netherlands-based commission described the convictions as a “major blow to the rhino horn trade,” likely to cause serious disruption to rhino horn networks in Mozambique and South Africa.

On 27 July 2022, Valoi and Zucula were arrested by Sernic agents in Maputo following a coordinated operation with the Wildlife Justice Commission (WJC). During their arrest, authorities seized four rhino horns weighing a total of 2.9 kg.

“Valoi is one of the most prolific rhino horn poachers, best known for his attacks on South Africa’s Kruger National Park. His conviction, along with that of his right-hand man Zucula, is a major blow to the illegal wildlife trade in southern Africa.

“This conviction marks a significant achievement in the global fight against wildlife crime. The heavy sentences imposed on Valoi and Zucula send a strong and clear message to those involved in the illegal rhino horn trade that their actions will have serious consequences,” said the commission’s executive director, Olivia Swaak-Goldman.

She said the WJC’s mission was to disrupt and help dismantle organised crime networks that traffic in wildlife, timber and fish. The commission did this through intelligence analysis and undercover investigations, by helping law enforcement secure arrests and convictions, by building their capacity to respond to wildlife trafficking, and by holding governments to account when they failed to act.

Swaak-Goldman noted that the rhino horn trade is a form of transnational organized crime and that Kruger National Park has borne the brunt of the recent wave of rhino poaching.

Read more: Wildlife crime: Rhino poaching remains dire, but good news from Kruger

According to AIM, Valoi was arrested in July 2022 after investigators set a trap for him.

“They pretended to be corrupt and gave him a mobile phone with which he could contact his family members and other members of the poaching gang.

“Valoi took the bait and, through phone calls and messages, activated his accomplices who crossed the border into South Africa, where they killed a rhino.”

These tapped telephone contacts enabled the Mozambican authorities to arrest Valoi’s associates. Several of Valoi’s relatives were also detained, on the grounds that they had aided the organized crime network. DM