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The police spokesperson for Vhembe District in Limpopo, Major Mashudu Malelo, said the three suspects were arrested on Sunday night following a tip-off. It is suspected the cigarettes were smuggled out of the country through undesignated entry points along the Limpopo River.
“We arrested two Zimbabwean men and a woman for smuggling a consignment of Remington Gold cigarettes into South Africa. In fact, acting on a tip-off, our officers spotted two vehicles driving in the direction of Louis Trichardt from Thohoyandou on Sunday,” he said.
They got suspicious and subsequently mounted a roadblock.
“We mounted a roadblock and intercepted the two cars and one of the suspects, alighted from his vehicle and tried to escape on foot.
“We, however, managed to arrest him following assistance from the local community members,” he said.
Maj Malelo said the other suspect who was driving the other car, which was carrying the cigarettes also tried to race away but he ran out of luck when his vehicle landed in a ditch, leading to his arrest and the woman passenger.
“We have had numerous arrests of cigarette smugglers, but it is very rare that we find so many cigarettes at one go and as police we would like to believe that this could be a well orchestrated smuggling syndicate involving several other suspects,” said the police spokesperson.
The three suspects are expected to appear in the Thohoyandou Magistrates’ Court to answer to charges of smuggling cigarettes.
Cases of cigarettes being smuggled out of the country through Beitbridge Border Post and undesignated entry points along the crocodile infested Limpopo River have since become a common occurrence.
Online Reporter