POLOKWANE: Five South African National Defence Force (SANDF) soldiers, including two Zimbabweans are set to appear in the Musina Magistrates Court today Thursday (18 September) following their arrested for alleged possession of illicit cigarettes. The Limpopo police confirmed the arrests of the suspects, aged between 26 and 42 on prima facie evidence connecting them with alleged illicit cigarette smuggled across-border between South Africa and Zimbabwe.
Brig. Hlulani Mashaba, spokesperson for the Limpopo police, said they were arrested on Tuesday, 16 September. He said of the five SANDF soldiers, one is a female while the rest are males, including two undocumented Zimbabwean nationals.
“They were arrested during a joint operation by the SAPS Limpopo Beitbridge Task Team and Military Intelligence. Their arrests followed an incident earlier that morning at Artonvilla, along the Malaladrift road near the Limpopo River, where they allegedly conspired to intercept and steal a consignment of illicit cigarettes being smuggled into South Africa. During the operation, shots were reportedly fired, forcing smugglers to abandon 24 boxes of illicit cigarettes. Six boxes were later found hidden inside a temporary military camp,” said Mashaba. He said the arrestees face charges of corruption, possession of illicit cigarettes, unlawful discharge of a firearm and defeating the ends of justice.
The value of the discovered illicit cigarettes was not disclosed as the investigation is ongoing. The police’s largest single discovery of illicit cigarettes at the Beitbridge border this year was 710 boxes of Remington Gold worth R14,449,363 during the arrest of a 44-year-old foreign male national. The police confiscated a truck tanker valued at R2,500,000 that the suspect was driving as part of the additional evidence. He was charged with smuggling illicit cigarettes.
