Child smuggler fined

Limpopo River was yesterday fined US$600 for facilitating illegal immigration.
Kenias Mhlanga (32) was arrested on Wednesday morning by South African police while loading the children, aged between one and 16 into a SA-registered Toyota Quantam.
Mhlanga of Magwegwe West in Bulawayo was convicted on his own plea to contravening a Section of the Immigration Act before Mr Carrington Karidzagundi.
In default of payment, Mhlanga faces five months in jail.
A further five months of his sentence were wholly suspended for five years on condition he does not commit the same offence during that period.
Mhlanga took the children from Bulawayo and was on his way to Johannesburg claiming that he had been hired by their parents. He sent seven adults to cross with the children into South Africa through the illegal crossing point while he crossed through the border.
Seven other men who were travelling in the same vehicle were also arrested for contravening sections of the Immigration Act. Among the seven, five had valid travel documents though they had opted to leave the country through an illegal crossing point. – CR.