Online Reporter
Thupeyo Muleya, Beitbridge Bureau
Police in Limpopo have cracked a smuggling syndicate specialising in stealing vehicles and electrical gadgets, which are later smuggled to Malawi via Zimbabwe.
On Thursday, the police recovered an assortment of goods worth R3 million among them vehicle accessories fora Ford Ranger that had been stolen in Cape Town.
Limpopo police spokesperson, Colonel Malasela Ledwaba, said they had arrested four migrants who had been travelling in a commercial truck in connection with the matter.
He said the police were not relenting in their efforts to fight organised crime.
“On Thursday, (5 June 2025), at approximately 02:00, the Limpopo Anti-Smuggling Task Team, supported by Tshimollo Security and Investigation and Shadow Secure Technology, intercepted a Scania truck pulling superlink trailers near the Polokwane weighbridge. The vehicle was en-route from Cape Town to Malawi via the Beitbridge border post,” said Col Ledwaba.
“Following an extensive 18-hour operation and thorough search, the joint team recovered; stripped parts of a Ford Ranger reported stolen in Nyanga last month, including engine, dashboard, radiator, differential and steering wheel, 30 disassembled motorcycles concealed in drums and containers, reported stolen from multiple Western Cape police stations including Bellville, Mfuleni, Muizenberg, Nyanga, Milnerton, Sea Point, and Athlone”.
The senior police officer said the team also recovered various electronic goods including plasma TVs, sound systems, solar tower batteries, and cell phones suspected to be stolen property.
He said the Scania truck and trailers used in the smuggling operation were also seized as part of the investigation.
“The total value of recovered goods is over R3 million. The four foreign national males aged between 37 and 50 years were arrested and will appear before the Polokwane Magistrate Court on Monday, 9 June 2025, on charges of possession of suspected stolen goods,” added Col Ledwaba.
Limpopo police commander, Lieutenant General Thembi Hadebe, commended his team for successfully carrying out the operation.
“This breakthrough represents a major victory against sophisticated criminal networks that have been exploiting our borders to traffic stolen goods,” she said.
“The collaboration between our Anti-Smuggling Task Team and private security partners demonstrates the power of coordinated law enforcement efforts. We will continue to target these criminal syndicates relentlessly until they are completely dismantled”.
The smuggling of vehicles has become rampant around the border line and the Government is losing millions of dollars in import revenue annually.
Indications are that most of these cars are stolen from rental cars in South Africa and are smuggled to Malawi and Tanzania via Zimbabwe.
