Members of the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) on border protection duty have seized two vehicles loaded with illicit cigarettes after receiving a tipoff from game rangers.
Captain Moses Semono from Joint Tactical Headquarters Limpopo reports that members of 1 South African Tank Regiment from Bloemfontein led by Officer Commanding Lieutenant Colonel Heidi Dalton received a tipoff from game rangers in the Mapungubwe National Park regarding cigarette smugglers and on following up, discovered and seized a Mercedes Benz sedan valued at R200 000 and a Mitsubishi bakkie valued at R400 000 that were fully loaded with illicit cigarettes.
The suspects driving the vehicles escaped arrest, but the South African National Defence Force members called in their counterparts from the South African Police Services to assist with fingerprinting for further investigations. Both vehicles were towed by the SA Police Service.
In another incident, 1 SA Tank Regiment soldiers were busy with waylay operations between Dongola Kop and Mapungubwe National Park when they confiscated illicit cigarettes valued at R254 731 from smugglers who dropped their packs and fled.
Fifteen companies of SANDF soldiers are tasked with patrolling thousands of kilometres of South Africa’s land borders under Operation Corona. They continue to record monthly successes, and in October once again impacted the smuggling all manner of goods, including pharmaceuticals, into South Africa and prevented well over a thousand illegal immigrants entering the country.
Statistics provided by the Joint Operations Division showed the single largest haul in October was a R233 million load of erectile dysfunction pills. The pills were aboard a truck intercepted by soldiers at the Lebombo port of entry between Mozambique and South Africa.
Next largest was the R5.1 million in contraband confiscated by soldiers deployed along the South Africa/Zimbabwe border. Number three for contraband “takings” in October was the KwaZulu-Natal/Eswatini border with soldiers handing R2.2 million worth of goods to police for disposal.
Over 900 Mozambicans planning to enter South Africa were prevented from doing so by soldiers and handed to Department of Home Affairs (DHA) immigration officials for “processing”. Soldiers intercepted 484 Zimbabweans attempting to illegally enter South Africa.
Fourteen vehicles with a collective value in excess of R14 million were prevented from illegally leaving the country during the month. Dagga with an estimated street value of over R1.5 million was also taken from smugglers as was small livestock (goats and sheep) earmarked for farms in Lesotho.
