Police nets cycads worth R100 000

Police at Uitenhage in the Eastern Cape, have confiscated endangered cycads with a black market value of more than R100 000. Police are carrying out raids on other properties as well, but no-one has been arrested yet.

About 65 adult plants, 22 seedlings and hundreds of seeds were confiscated by members of the organised crime unit. Police say cycads that are grown illegally in large numbers are usually destined for export and the black market. People growing cycads illegally can face fines running into hundreds of thousands of rands and or lengthy jail sentences.