Vehicles seized in rhino poaching case

The High Court last month granted an ex parte preservation order over two vehicles and N$810 allegedly linked to the killing of two white rhinoceroses at a farm in the Omaheke region.

The order was obtained by acting prosecutor general Martha Imalwa in terms of section 51 of the Prevention of Organised Crime Act.

The property targeted by the order includes two sedans and N$810 in cash. The state alleges that the vehicles were used as instruments in an organised rhino-poaching operation, while the money constitutes proceeds connected to criminal activities.

According to court documents, the two white rhinos were allegedly killed at a farm in the Omaheke region on or around 5 October 2025. The animals had a combined estimated value of N$660 000.

Five suspects, Krian Kalola, Johannes Endjala, Wilson Ndara, Lourens Ludik and Olavi Matende, have been linked to the alleged killings.

Imalwa alleges that Ludik and Endjala were the two suspects who physically entered the farm and killed the rhinos.
SCOUTING

The acting prosecutor general alleges that one of the vehicles was used for about two weeks before the killings, travelling between three farms.

According to Imalwa, the suspects allegedly visited the farms under the guise of selling alcohol to farmworkers. The visits were allegedly used to familiarise themselves with the area, study the terrain and monitor security patrols.

The other vehicle, meanwhile, is alleged to have been used to transport and drop off suspected poachers, including individuals allegedly armed with a rifle, at the farm where the animals were poached.

Imalwa further alleges that vehicle returned the following day to collect the suspects, who were allegedly carrying rhino horns wrapped in aluminium foil.

“Proceeds of the sales of the horns were subsequently used to pay N$6 000 for the yellow [car’s] repairs,” Imalwa says.

CCTV FOOTAGE

Sergeant Alfeus Ndumbu of the Namibian Police’s Anti-Money Laundering and Combating of Financing of Terrorism Unit alleged in a supporting affidavit that closed-circuit television footage obtained between 1 and 6 October 2025 showed one of the vehicles dropping off two unidentified people at the farm where the animals were later poached on 3 October.

“The [vehicle] reappeared on 4 October with the same individuals,” Ndumbu says.

He says the vehicle was subsequently tracked through Morester, along the Trans-Kalahari Highway, to the Okahandja Shell Service Station and Omaruru, before it was eventually recovered in Hakahana at a property belonging to Kalola.

Imalwa argues that the movements of the vehicles, together with other evidence, provide reasonable grounds to believe that they were used as instruments in the alleged offences.

The N$810 preserved by the court was allegedly found in Endjala’s possession.

Imalwa told the court that financial records showed about N$1.2 million had passed through Endjala’s First National Bank account during 2023 and 2024.

She alleges that by 30 October 2025, the account had received N$236 000 through 36 deposits.

According to the state, some of the transfers were made on 6 October 2025, the morning the rhino carcasses were discovered.

Endjala initially told investigators that the money came from jackpot-machine profits, the sale of cattle worth N$30 000 and the sale of a residential plot at Omakange in the Omusati region for N$20 000.

However, senior traditional councillor Dawid Tjimuiva states in an affidavit that land at Omakange cannot be sold privately.

Imalwa also alleges that Endjala later admitted that his explanations had been fabricated and conceded that he was “attempting to help himself”.

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