A slick operation led by Limpopo police has put a major dent in an international crime ring running stolen goods across the SA-Malawi border, with over R3 million worth of loot recovered and four suspects cuffed.
Just after 2 AM on Thursday morning, 5 June, cops from the Limpopo Anti-Smuggling Task Team pounced on a Scania truck with superlink trailers near the Polokwane weighbridge. Backed up by private partners Tshimollo Security and Shadow Secure Technology, the team stopped the truck en route to Beitbridge, loaded to the brim with stolen items and stripped vehicle parts.
What started as a routine stop quickly turned into an 18-hour marathon search that exposed the scale of the smuggling op.
Inside the trailers? Chopped-up parts of a Ford Ranger stolen in Nyanga last month, engine, steering wheel, radiator, the works. But that was just the beginning.
In drums and containers hidden throughout the trailers, officers uncovered 60 disassembled motorcycles. These weren’t just any bikes, they were traced back to police stations all over the Western Cape, including Bellville, Nyanga, Mfuleni, Sea Point, Athlone, Muizenberg and Milnerton.
Read | Trucker Bust Smuggling Dagga Worth R250 000 at Vioolsdrift Port
Also seized: high-end electronics like plasma TVs, solar tower batteries, cellphones and sound systems, all believed to be stolen.
Even the truck and trailers used in the heist were taken in for investigation.
Four foreign nationals, aged between 37 and 50, now sit in police custody and will appear in the Polokwane Magistrate’s Court on Monday, 9 June, to face charges of possession of suspected stolen goods.
Provincial police boss, Lt Gen Thembi Hadebe, gave props to her team: “This is a big win in our battle against organised crime. These syndicates have been exploiting our borders for too long, but this shows that when we work together, we can shut them down.”
Looks like the road just got a whole lot rougher for smugglers trying to use Limpopo as their highway to crime.
Do you have more on this story? Click to WhatsApp us. Anonymity guaranteed.
