Pangolins rescued from BMW boot at Rustenburg shopping mall

Police have found two pangolins alive in the boot of a BMW at a shopping centre in Rustenburg, as they swooped on four suspects allegedly trying to sell them.

Police valued the two female pangolins at about R1 million.

The suspects are due in court on Friday, 6 November.

The suspects, aged between 38 and 51, were arrested at Waterfall Mall in Rustenburg on Wednesday, 4 November.

They face charges of unlawful possession of endangered species.

How police found the pangolins rescued in Rustenburg

According to the South African Police Service (SAPS), Crime Intelligence Ivory Park received information that a group was allegedly trying to sell two pangolins for about R500 000 each.

A cross-border team was assembled, made up of:

• Crime Intelligence from Ivory Park and North West
• the SAPS Ivory Park Task Team
• the Phokeng K9 unit
• the Rustenburg Tactical Response Team
• Safeguard Risk Services.

The team watched the mall’s parking lot until a white BMW carrying the suspects arrived.

Officers intercepted the car and found the two live pangolins in the boot.

When questioned, the suspects could not explain why they had the animals.

On top of that, police found that someone had fitted the BMW with false number plates, so they seized it for further investigation.

Where the pangolins are now

Police called officials from the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment to the scene, and they took the pangolins for safekeeping.

Police are now investigating whether the suspects are part of a wider criminal network.

North West Provincial Commissioner Lieutenant General Arthur Peter Adams praised the units for their collaboration and swift action.

He said SAPS remains committed to protecting the country’s endangered species.

Pangolin trafficking arrests are not new to this mall

This is not the first time police have caught pangolin traffickers at Waterfall Mall. In July 2020, police arrested three men there for possession of a pangolin, after a tip-off that someone planned to sell it at the mall.

South Africa’s protected species list classes pangolins as vulnerable, and CITES, an international wildlife trade agreement, protects them by banning international commercial trade in them.

Traffickers target them mainly for their scales, which some people falsely believe have medicinal value.

Elsewhere in the province, the North West environment department has reported increasing pangolin trafficking in the Ngaka Modiri Molema and Dr Ruth Segomotsi Mompati districts, which it links to their closeness to the Botswana border.

What the law says

The suspects will be charged under the National Environmental Management: Biodiversity Act. Section 57(1) of the Act prohibits anyone from carrying out a restricted activity involving a listed threatened or protected species without a valid permit.

Convictions can bring prison time. In May 2026, two men were sentenced to eight years in prison after being caught with a pangolin near Mahikeng in 2023.

Sadly, the pregnant pangolin in that case died just five days after her rescue.

Anyone with information about wildlife crime can contact Crime Stop on 08600 10111, or use the MySAPS app.