South African border security officials on Monday destroyed a wooden raft used by criminals to smuggle goods between Zimbabwe and the neighboring country.
The team also recovered contraband cigarettes worth more than R100,000 smuggled from Zimbabwe via the Limpopo River.
The country loses 40% of targeted revenues due to intrusive leaks organized by Zimbabwean extortion gangs, operating from both Zimbabwe and South Africa.
The annual trade volume between the two countries amounts to 60%, as Zimbabwe imports most of its basic products through the Limpopo River. This time, unions are using inflatable boats and, in some cases, plastic garbage bins to transport goods or illegal immigrants to both sides of the border.
Limpopo police spokesman, Colonel Malasela Ledwaba, said they were carrying out an operation dubbed “Fala Umgodi” to crack down on crime at the border.
“The Border Police team, through the sabotage operation ‘Vala Umgodi’, seized a ferry on the bank of the Limpopo River between Zimbabwe and the South believed to be used to smuggle counterfeit goods across the border between the two countries,” he said.
“The ferry was eventually destroyed. In addition, 11 foreign nationals between the ages of 18 and 46 were arrested on Saturday 6 April on charges of contravening immigration law, at Modimolle in the Waterberg district and the Beitbridge port of entry, respectively.
The illegal immigrants are expected to appear in court this week.
Colonel Ledwaba said they also found a consignment of illicit cigarettes worth thousands of rand, in the bush along the Point Drift Road outside Musina, in the Vhembe District, over the weekend.
He said members of the Saps Border Police team deployed at the Beitbridge Port of Entry received information about a Toyota Tazz vehicle, which was delivering illicit cigarettes within the Musina area.
He said they intercepted the vehicle and searched nearby bushes, where 260 cartoons of illicit cigarettes worth an estimated R116,766 were found hidden.
“The Multi-Disciplinary Forces Team, comprising members of the Armed Forces and the National Defense Forces during their tour of Operation Vala Umgodi, reportedly arrested a 41-year-old suspected man on charges of dealing in Daga,” a senior police officer said. .
“In addition, one of the suspects, a 49-year-old foreign national, was arrested in Modimolle, for possession of illicit cigarettes and selling contaminated food items at his shop.” Chronicle
