In a suspected human trafficking case, police in Mozambique have intercepted a tanker truck loaded with 87 people who are suspected to be Malawian migrants on their way to South Africa.
Reports suggest that the truck driver abandoned his hazardous tanker and fled from Mozambican police after being stopped for a routine check.
Video footage of the victims coming out of the tanker has gone viral on social media.
According to the person narrating in the video, the people found in the tanker are Malawians.
Another source, who was at the scene at the time told SA Trucker that it happened just after Luwenya Bridge in Mozambique.
It’s reported that the police officer asked the driver to present his licence but after giving his licence to the police, the driver fled into a nearby bush leaving the officer buffled.
While the cops were still trying to figure out why the truck driver took a leg, they saw people peeping out from the tanker.
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That’s when the police realised what they were dealing with – a possible human trafficking case.
“The police officers then helped the people out of the hot tanker who totalled 87,” the source said.
“I stopped when I was surprised seeing people coming out from the tanker as I arrived just a few minutes after it happened,” added the source.
He said that the suspected Malawians have since been detained by Mozambique Police.
It has not yet been established if the people were smuggled from Malawi or they boarded the tanker in Mozambique. Immigration Department in Malawi has not yet commented on the reports.
According to Malawi24, the incident happened just a few days after bodies of 29 migrants were found in mass graves in a forest in Malawi. The migrants, suspected to be Ethiopians, are believed to have died in a van as they were being transported to the border between Malawi and Mozambique on their way to South Africa.
Watch the video here.
