A 38-year-old Zimbabwean man employed by a South Africa parlour as a hearse driver, was on Thursday jailed 15 years for smuggling explosives worth R420 000 into the neighbouring country through Beitbridge Border Post.
Wisper Ndiweni was in July found with the explosives hidden
in the hearse as he returned to South Africa after delivering a corpse for
burial in Zimbabwe.
Since then, he has been in remand prison until his
conviction and sentencing at the Musina Regional Court yesterday. Ndiweni was
arrested by South Africa’s organised crime-busting unit, the Hawks.
Hawks spokesperson for Limpopo province, Captain Matimba
Maluleke said they were not relenting on their crackdown on crime in the
province and the borderline.
He said they were making many arrests and breaking
syndicates which push contraband. “On July 26, 2020, at Beitbridge Border Post,
the police were busy with their routine stop and search duties when they
stopped a hearse that was coming from Zimbabwe and searched it.
“Instead of finding a coffin in the hearse, they discovered
explosives with an estimated value of over R420 000 and subsequently arrested
Ndiweni who was the driver of the vehicle,” said Captain Maluleke.
He said the accused had on several occasions tried to
secure bail without success. “This is a second jail sentence imposed on
explosives’ smugglers in the month of December alone,” he said.
Captain Maluleke said two others, Patson Banda (25) and
Life Mbazi (33) were recently sentenced to 15 years’ direct imprisonment by the
Musina Magistrate’s Court for smuggling explosives.
The smuggling of explosives into South Africa through
Beitbridge Border Post and the Limpopo River has become a perennial headache
for security authorities in Zimbabwe and South Africa.
It is understood that explosives are used to bomb ATM or
illegal mining activities in the Free State and Gauteng Provinces.
Over 30 people including Zimbabweans and South Africans
have been arrested along the two countries’ boundary while smuggling explosives
worth millions of dollars in the last two years.
The major source of the explosives is yet to be ascertained
though it is believed the product is being obtained mostly around mining towns.
Herald
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