adminSenior Reporter
POLICE in Beitbridge and their South African counterparts in Musina have arrested 45 more criminals, among them smugglers and armed robbers operating in bushy areas along the Limpopo River.The officer commanding police in Beitbridge District, Chief Superintendent Lawrence Chinhengo said the suspects were arrested last week during another joint border operation along the Limpopo River.
“We arrested 45 suspects during a joint operation between South African and Zimbabwean police along the border and among those arrested were notorious armed robbers who terrorised smugglers and border jumpers using undesignated entry points along the Limpopo River,” he said.
Chief Supt Chinhengo said the operation was aimed at curbing organised crime along the border.
“Some criminals commit crimes in Zimbabwe or South Africa and then flee to either of the two countries. We have teamed up as police from the two countries to curb such practice because crime knows no international boundary,” he said.
The criminal hotspots include Dulibadzimu Gorge and several illegal crossing points dotted along the river.
Chief Supt Chinhengo said the operation was a routine exercise following an increase in criminal activities around the border area.
Last month police from the two border towns also conducted a similar exercise during which they arrested 19 suspects.
Chief Supt Chinhengo attributed the increase in crime along the border to an increase in the number of stranded deportees from South Africa, mostly ex-convicts who end up resorting to crime.
On being deported from South Africa, returnees are taken to the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) reception and support centre where they are offered overnight accommodation, medication, food and transport to proceed to their respective homes.
However, some of the deportees turn down the assistance from the IOM and cross back to South Africa illegally through undesignated entry points along the crocodile infested Limpopo River while others resort to criminal activities.
Several border jumpers and smugglers have fallen prey to organised syndicates operating along the Limpopo River.
Online Reporter