Police in Mpumalanga have arrested at least 24 people in connection with human trafficking and contravening the Immigration Act.
According to the police, the arrests occurred on Monday at about 10 am, when an intelligence-driven disruptive operation was conducted by the Nelspruit Crime Intelligence and Highway patrol along N4 and R38 roads.
The operation followed information received from a reliable source about a white Toyota Quantum that was allegedly transporting passengers suspected to be undocumented foreign nationals.
“The Quantum was spotted on R38 to Low’s Creek in the area of Kaapmuiden. The driver (33) was interviewed to determine the originality of the passengers. The driver informed the police that he was instructed to pick up people from the road to Delmas,” police spokesperson Captain Dineo Lucy Sekgotodi said.
She added that the Hawks were summoned and took over the investigation. Preliminarily investigations revealed that 23 foreign nationals aged between 14 and 46 were being transported.
“Fourteen (14) Pakistani and (09) Bangladeshi nationals. Amongst the group, were two minors aged 14 and 17 years old. The driver of the Quantum was arrested on charges of Contravening the Trafficking in Persons Act 7 of 2013, Aiding and Abetting,” she said.
It was also discovered that some passengers had passports but some did not. Those available passports were unstamped. All suspects were detained pending their first court appearance at Barberton District Court on Wednesday.
