Trophy Hunting from Behind Bars

Where Have All the Rhinos Gone Report is a South African retrospective research report which was published in 2021. The Report is a compilation of, and expansion on, the work previously carried out by researchers and investigative journalists over the past two decades.

This time period will forever be marked by a magnitude of South African government corruption and the capture and attempted destruction of the South African criminal justice system. It would be foolish to believe that South Africa’s environmental sector and the conservation and protection of wildlife that resides within it, has remained unscathed during this time period in our history which is known as State Capture.

Hundreds of rhinos were knowingly exported from the Kruger National Park to trophy hunters, some of whom ignited the rhino horn trade in Vietnam, whilst at the same time thousands of rhinos were being illegally killed in the Kruger National Park.

Professional trophy hunter, Hugo Ras was arrested in 2014 with nine other people including his wife Trudie Ras, his brother Anton Ras and former South African Police Serviceman with the HAWKS, Willie Oosthuizen and attorney Joseph Wilkinson. They are facing more than 300 charges for rhino poaching crimes allegedly committed between June 200 and June 2012.

It was reported in July 2024, that two of the state witnesses due to testify against Hugo Ras have died. The case has also been delayed due to constitutional challenges to regulations underpinning the trade of rhino horn. Hugo Ras and Willem Andries van Jaarsveld are in prison however, serving sentences for fraud and theft. Mike Bolhuis, a private investigator, played a vitally important role in this arrest.

In August 2024 Mike Bolhuis published information about Hugo Ras after an investigation was carried out which involved Hugo Ras selling hunting trips from the comfort of his prison cell.

Where Have All the Rhinos Gone? Hugo Ras 2004 – 2021

In 2004 the Mail and Guardian reported the Hugo Ras, a professional hunter had bought a bull elephant from the Kruger National Park. This elephant was killed by an American trophy hunter at Orion Safari Lodge, which is located near Rustenburg. The hunt took place shortly after his arrival from the Kruger National Park. Gavin Hulett from Sabi Sands, an associated nature reserve and part of the Greater KrugerNational Park, said that the Kruger National Park had agreed to sell four bull elephants to Hugo Ras on the condition he did use them for hunting. Ras had obtained hunting permits from the North West Province authorities to shoot the elephant before their arrived on the farm.

Hugo Ras made the news again in South Africa in 2005 when a contract worker named Petrus Bushy Malgas was killed by two lions on the Zeerust farm in Rietfontein.

In August 2011 South African Police Service questioned Ras about the murder of a Russian stripper, Lana Muratava who had disappeared in November 2010. Her body was found in a ditch between Garankuwa and Soshanguve in January 2011. Ras denied any knowledge of the death of Lana Muratava, however he admitted that she had acted as an interpreter for him.

In 2012, the South African Police Services raided the home of Hugo Ras, in Magalieskruin in Pretoria. They confiscated an illegal firearm and five crates of the controlled and potent veterinary immobilising drug, M99. On the 2nd of March 2012 three veterinarians, including the Kruger National Park, ex-head of “game” capture, Douw Grobler, Johannes Gerdus Kruger and Buti Chinese appeared in the Pretoria North Magistrate’s Court.

The three vets appeared with Hugo Ras and Matthys Scheepers, Riaal Booysen, Johan Heydenrych and Christoffel Naude. The vets were charged with the possession and distribution of M99. M99 has been used in numerous rhino poaching incidents in recent years.

Douw Grobler had been fired from the Kruger National Park in 2001 for the unauthorised sale of animals from the park’s disease-free buffalo breeding project, an event which was described as “disappointing and embarrassing”.

In June 2012 charges against five of the suspects arrested for possession and distribution of the tranquilising drug used by rhino poachers were withdrawn due to insufficient evidence.

According to the National Prosecuting Authority, in May 2013, Hugo Ras was at an establishment where gambling took place and which was reputed to deal in drugs. During a raid by the South African Police Service the police searched Ras and they allegedly found him to be in possession of a firearm and ammunition which belonged to his wife.

On the 19th September 2014 Lieutenant General Anwar Dramat of the South African Police Services, the HAWKS, told members of Parliament that a suspected rhino poaching kingpin would be arrested soon. On the 22nd September 2014 ten members of a suspected“rhino killing syndicate” were remanded in custody for seven days, their formal bail application was held on the 29th September 2014. The alleged syndicate had been arrested on Friday 19th September.

The suspects had allegedly illegally obtained 84 rhino horns and killed 22 rhinos on state owned and privately owned wildlife reserves in South Africa.

The suspects included Hugo Ras, his wife Trudie Ras, his brother Anton Ras and brother-in-law Abraham Smit, Warrant Officer Willie Oosthuizen from South African Police Service HAWKS based in Pretoria, a pilot from Ficksburg David Jacobus Steyn, a lawyer Joseph Wilkinson, Christoffel Scheepers, Mandla Magaula and Willem van Jaarsveld. 

The alleged syndicate operated in Limpopo,Mpumalanga, the North West, Gauteng and KwaZulu Natal. This arrest came after a year-long investigation which involved the Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism, Department of Home Affairs, South African Police Services, Crime Intelligence, Protea Coin Security, National Prosecuting Authority and the Forensic Science Laboratory. The HAWKS investigating team arrested Ras, who was believed to have headed up the syndicate’s activities for nearly five years.

318 charges were laid against the suspects. Some of the people arrested were repeat offenders, including Hugo Ras’s brother in law Abraham Smit, who had allegedly been on the run for more than three years and was wanted by Interpol and the FBI.  According to a media report, the FBI’s public information officer, Special Agent Gina Swankie confirmed that Abraham Johannes Smit was wanted by Interpol and the FBI.

According to a media statement from the National Media Centre Corporate Communication South African Police Service SAPS the killing of rhino for their horn had taken place between 2008 and 2012, twenty-four rhinos were known to have been attacked, twenty-two of these rhinos were darted with M99 the powerful anaesthetic the remaining two where shot. 34 horns were either stolen or obtained through other devious means.

It was alleged during the bail hearings that Trudie Ras was the paymaster who laundered the proceeds made from the sale of the rhino horn. Allegedly Magagula was the person on the ground who spotted, poached and helped remove the horns from the rhino. Smit, who faced 34 charges, is alleged to have played a direct role during the aforementioned hunt. Van Jaarsveld was alleged to have transported the poachers to various locations and exported the horn.

HAWKS Warrant Officer Willie Oosthuizen and Mandla Magagula were granted bail on the 24th December 2014. On the 29th December 2014 Trudie Ras, Steyn and Van Jaarsveld were granted bail. Matthys Scheepers and Anton Ras were released on bail in January 2015.

On the 9th of September 2015 it was reported that Hugo Ras had lost his renewed bid for bail. Judge Bert Bam, acting in the High Court of Pretoria, dismissed an earlier appeal by Ras against a February ruling by a Pretoria magistrate that he was not entitled to bail.By this time, eight of the ten members of the alleged syndicate arrested, were out on bail, only Ras and his brother-in-law, Abraham Smit, remained in custody. Smit was, apparently, wanted in the US on six counts of wire fraud, Ras was facing 248 charges, including acharge of racketeering, the unlawful possession of scheduled medicine, the receipt of two elephant tusks and a large number of charges relating to rhino poaching.

According to Colonel Johan Jooste, it was general knowledge that Ras had instructed members of the Macs Gang to assault andintimidate people. State Advocate Joanie Spies argued that Ras was convicted on no less than 20 charges between 2000 and 2009, including nature conservation charges, numerous charges involving illegal hunting and importing game, crimen injuria, assault and the possession of an unlicensed firearm.

The trial of all ten members of the alleged syndicate was due to start on the 27th July and run until the 15th December 2016. However the trial was delayed until February 2017 after Joseph Wilkinson and David Steyn issued a constitutional challenge in July 2016. The focusof the challenge was the lifting of the moratorium on the possession and transport of rhino horns in South Africa.

The alleged syndicate believed that the lifting of the seven-year ban on the trade of rhino horn in South Africa could potentially influencethe charges against them as suspected poachers.

On the 13th December 2016 Hugo Ras was denied bail again. However, in February 2018 Hugo Ras was granted bail of R25000.00following a successful bail appeal to the Appeal Court in Bloemfontein. On the 8 December 2018 the bail of all the accused in the alleged aforementioned syndicate was extended including that of Hugo Ras, except for the bail of Mandla Magagula. A warrant was authorised for the re-arrest of Mandla Magagula.

The trial of the alleged syndicate was postponed until November 2019 pending the outcome of Wilkinson and Steyn’s constitutional challenge to the environmental regulations underpinning charges relating to the illegal possession, sale and transport of rhino horn. In 2019 Pretoria lawyer Joseph Joshua Wilkinson and pilot David Jacobus Steyn asked Judge Daisy Molefe to declare the reverse onus provisions contained in the legislation in terms of which they were charged, unconstitutional or invalid in June 2019. Judge Molefe dismissed their argument. She stated that the criminal trial had not started yet and the charges were yet to be adjudicated upon.

On the 24th of May 2021, the National Prosecuting Authority Lumka Mahanjana said that Hugo Ras and Willem Andries van Jaarsveldhave been sentenced to a collective forty-one years of imprisonment for fraud and theft, for the sale of a boat. Ras was also found guilty of being in possession of an illegal firearm and ammunition, Van Jaarsveld was found guilty of forgery.

Hugo Ras Selling Hunting Trips from his Prison Cell 2024

Mike Bolhuis is the sole proprietor of Specialized Security Services, with more than thirty-five years of experienced he works with the South African Police Services in his passionate fight against serious crime in South Africa.

After being convicted, Hugo Ras, was incarcerated in the Baviaanspoort Correctional Facility which is located in Pretoria. According to an investigation carried out by Mike Bolhuis, whilst in prison Hugo Ras fraudulently arranged wildlife hunting trips.

Using various fake names he used social media platforms to introduce himself to unsuspecting hunters. He gathered information about various legitimate hunting lodges, using their information, including images, he enticed the hunters to book hunting trips with him. The unsuspecting hunters paid deposits only to discover that they had been scammed.

Mike Bolhuis was approached to investigate these scams. His investigation led them to Baviaanspoort Correctional Facility where, mobile phones, iPads and memory sticks were confiscated. A full forensic investigation was conducted and the details of the results of the investigation are published on the Specialized Security Services website.

Image: ©EMS Foundation 2024.

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