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UITENHAGE police made two major breakthroughs yesterday when they seized cycads with a street value of R250000 and then perlemoen valued at up to R200000.

Inspector Christo Gouws, of the Uitenhage police dog unit, who was involved in both operations and in which four people were arrested, had been working on a case of illegal cycad uprooting and sale for four months.

Captain Priscilla Naidu said one man was arrested yesterday afternoon while allegedly transporting the rare plants to Gauteng to be sold. The fronds had been cut off and the roots put in boxes.

Gouws, who was tipped off earlier yesterday, stopped the 42-year-old man on the road and found 263 cycads in the back of the vehicle.

Naidu said that although the cycads had a street value of R250000 here, they could be worth more in Gauteng.

“In Johannesburg, cycads can cost as much as R70 per centimetre, so our estimate could be a little out. But we have commended Inspector Gouws for this breakthrough because he has been following leads and working on this case for four months.”

Naidu said cycads were not allowed in any garden without a permit. The suspect was arrested under the Biodiversity and Environmental Act, which prohibits tampering with or destroying wild specimens of threatened species.

In the second bust, Gouws later visited the farm Breelaagte, near Uitenhage, while still probing the cycad case and arrested three tenants – aged 34, 36 and 37 – for illegal perlemoen possession.

Naidu said it was brought in from Jeffreys Bay and Port Elizabeth and had been processed and cleaned. They seized 30 bags of dry perlemoen packed into potato bags for transportation. Processing chemicals and equipment were also confiscated.

“We are now looking into the possibility that perlemoen might be on more farms in the Port Elizabeth and Uitenhage areas. (They) are ideal because they are remote, quiet and isolated, and no one ever bothers you while you are working.”