The Judicial Court of Maputo Province sentenced a citizen identified as Vusi Geraldo Mucavele to a single 30-year prison term on September 28, 2022, for prohibited hunting.

A statement from the National Administration of Conservation Areas (ANAC) states that the citizen was caught on the night of January 13 while returning from another poaching trip in the Lebombos transboundary region. That night, at around 10 pm he was accompanied by two other citizens who are still partly unknown.

Vusi Geraldo Mucavele was carrying 375 caliber handgun ammunition, an axe for cutting rhino horn, and food products.

"This is a 22-year-old individual, with several incursions carried out with the purpose of slaughtering wild animals, mainly, rhinos, for the extraction and trafficking of horns," the document reads.

ANAC recalls that in January this year, another citizen was sentenced to 30 years for the same type of crime, "hunting of protected species".

ANAC data reveals that between 2008 and 2022, more than 8,000 rhinos were slaughtered by poachers throughout the Grande Transfrontier Park region. This year 107 rhinos have already been slaughtered.