Cape Town - Three foreign nationals have been sentenced in the Khayelitsha Regional Court on charges of operating an illegal fish-processing establishment and illegal possession of firearms and ammunition.
According to a statement released on Tuesday by the Western Cape spokesperson for the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (Hawks) Zinzi Hani, the accused, Somali nationals Hirsi Mohammed, 28, and Ismael Mohammed, 37, and Nestary Million, 25, from Malawi, were sentenced on Friday, August 27.
She said the arrests were made during operations by the Hawks’ Serious Organised Crime team along with officials from the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment (DFFE) in September 2019 in Plattekloof and in Knoelvlei in October 2020, respectively, in terms of the Marine Living Resources Act.
Hirsi was arrested in the 2019 operation, was granted bail and rearrested during the second operation in 2020. He was the main accused in both matters.
During the operations, Hani said abalone and two pistols with ammunition were also seized.
She said Hirsi and Million were each sentenced to eight years’ imprisonment for the possession of a firearm, of which half of the sentence was suspended.
The two were also sentenced to two years’ imprisonment for the possession of ammunition. The court has ordered the sentences to run concurrently.
The two also received a suspended sentence for the illegal fish-processing charges.
Hani said Ismale was sentenced to pay a R20 000 fine or two years’ imprisonment for illegal fish processing.
She added that Hirsi and Million will effectively serve four years' direct imprisonment.
In a separate incident last week, a serial bank card scammer was sentenced to 20 years’ imprisonment on 59 charges of fraud in the Bellville Specialised Commercial Crimes Court.
African News Agency (ANA)