Anti-air gunners nab illegals, confiscate illicit tobacco products

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Gunners from 10 Anti-Aircraft Artillery Regiment are just as adept at border protection as they are operating “their” weapons to keep ground forces safe from air attack.

This was proven on the South Africa/Zimbabwe land border where a company from the Kimberley-based regiment is currently deployed on border protection as part of Operation Corona.

The gunners haven’t been in the border environment long and already their “brag board” reads 350 plus illegal immigrants detained and illicit cigarettes worth over R300 000 confiscated.

Captain Moses Semono of Joint Tactical Headquarters Limpopo reports the cigarette bust took place near a listening post at Echo 5.

“The gunners saw a group of around eleven people carrying heavy luggage crossing the border from Zimbabwe into South Africa. On approaching the group, the unidentified people dropped their luggage and ran back to Zimbabwe. Needless to say, the luggage was boxes of illicit cigarettes valued at R315 036 by customs officers from SA Revenue Service (SARS).”

Another illicit tobacco products bust, this time east of the Beitbridge port of entry, saw soldiers from an unnamed regiment/unit literally pick up cigarettes worth R174 550. The cigarettes were left behind by smugglers in their haste to escape apprehension by South African soldiers.