Illegal miners arrested, 2 excavators and a truck confiscated in Driekop

Limpopo police have arrested three suspects in connection with illegal mining in the Driekop area and confiscated mining equipment including two excavators and a dump truck on Tuesday afternoon.

Three suspects aged between 25 and 43 were nabbed and millions worth of equipment and chrome ore confiscated.

The arrests were effected during an Intelligence-driven operation that was jointly conducted with members of the Provincial Operations Command Center (POCC) Task Team and the Public Order Police from Burgersfort next to Modikwa Platinum mine.

The police operationalized the information received about the latest illegal mining activity that was taking place in the Driekop policing area and arrested the suspects at Balotjaneng village. Two excavators, one dump truck and stockpile of unprocessed chrome were seized.

The total value of the items that were confiscated is estimated at six million rands.

The suspects are expected to appear in Praktiseer magistrate court on Thursday 30 July 2020.

The police have so far arrested a total of twenty-five suspects on illegal mining related charges since March 2020 and have confiscated a number of trucks, excavators, other mining machinery and equipment as well as unprocessed chrome worth millions of rands.

The other arrests were effected during the ongoing Intelligence-driven joint operations conducted in Burgersfort and Lebowakgomo, including some areas that stretch along the R37 road, covering Apel, Malipsdrift, Mecklenburg Driekop and Tubatse policing precincts.