Zimbabwe, SA in joint order operation

ZIMBABWEAN and South Africa police yesterday rounded up dozens of suspected criminals, including armed robbers and illegal foreign currency dealers following a joint operation at Beitbridge Border Post.

Officer commanding Beitbridge police district Chief Superintendent Francis Phiri said the blitz had led to the arrest of some suspects on the police "wanted list".

"These were picked in an operation we did and will continue to have similar raids to rid our area of crime," he said. The Zimbabwean operation also targeted illegal vending sites and shebeens, where police confiscated large amounts of smuggled alcohol.

South African police used aerial and ground searches and flushed the suspects from their hideouts in the border area. Limpopo provincial police spokesperson, Brigadier Motlafela Mojapelo said their operation was to curb cash-in-transit heists spreading from major towns to remote parts of the country. "We did not have arrests this time but these are planned deterrent operations we will continue to carry out," he said

Such operations have in the past frustrated vehicle smugglers who drive cars across the dry Limpopo riverbed to Zimbabwe.