News / Local
Goods smuggled from SA impounded
24 Jul 2021 at 02:17hrs | Views
Police in Bulawayo have impounded a South African truck carrying smuggled groceries worth more than R200 000.
The Zambia bound truck was intercepted along the Bulawayo-Harare Road near Zuva garage while the driver, Mr Phila Vilakazi, was trying to offload the goods into another truck heading to Kwekwe.
Bulawayo police spokesperson Inspector Abednego Ncube said the owners of the smuggled goods failed to produce paperwork proving that the groceries came through the Zimbabwean border.
"This vehicle was impounded by the Zimbabwe Republic Police, central traffic department, along Harare Road behind Zuva garage.
"This was after police on patrol enforcing Covid-19 regulations and traffic regulations noticed that there were two trucks which were exchanging some properties and goods," said Insp Ncube.
"Police officers interviewed them and Mr Vilakazi indicated that he was from South Africa going to Zambia. Police also discovered that the groceries put on top of what Vilakazi was intending to take to Zambia did not have any papers proving they had been cleared." Insp Ncube said in the middle of that, some members of the public came to the scene and claimed to be owners of the groceries.
"They also attempted to bribe police officers who turned them down. One of the truck drivers attempted to run away and only appeared this morning to claim his vehicle as both cars were taken to Ross Camp," he said.
"We will continue doing our best to arrest anyone found with goods that are not declared as they are not welcome into the country. We encourage members of the public to continue cooperating and to report any suspicious transactions," he said.
Three days ago, Bulawayo police intercepted a Toyota Quantum vehicle, stolen from neighbouring South Africa, along the Bulawayo-Beitbridge highway. Sharing a picture of the Toyota Quantum, which is generally used by cross-border transporters, police said Wiseman Ndlovu (35) and Nkosilomusa Ndlovu (42), were arrested at a roadblock along The Bulawayo-Beitbridge Road.
The duo tried to disable the tracker on the vehicle but failed.
The Zambia bound truck was intercepted along the Bulawayo-Harare Road near Zuva garage while the driver, Mr Phila Vilakazi, was trying to offload the goods into another truck heading to Kwekwe.
Bulawayo police spokesperson Inspector Abednego Ncube said the owners of the smuggled goods failed to produce paperwork proving that the groceries came through the Zimbabwean border.
"This vehicle was impounded by the Zimbabwe Republic Police, central traffic department, along Harare Road behind Zuva garage.
"This was after police on patrol enforcing Covid-19 regulations and traffic regulations noticed that there were two trucks which were exchanging some properties and goods," said Insp Ncube.
"They also attempted to bribe police officers who turned them down. One of the truck drivers attempted to run away and only appeared this morning to claim his vehicle as both cars were taken to Ross Camp," he said.
"We will continue doing our best to arrest anyone found with goods that are not declared as they are not welcome into the country. We encourage members of the public to continue cooperating and to report any suspicious transactions," he said.
Three days ago, Bulawayo police intercepted a Toyota Quantum vehicle, stolen from neighbouring South Africa, along the Bulawayo-Beitbridge highway. Sharing a picture of the Toyota Quantum, which is generally used by cross-border transporters, police said Wiseman Ndlovu (35) and Nkosilomusa Ndlovu (42), were arrested at a roadblock along The Bulawayo-Beitbridge Road.
The duo tried to disable the tracker on the vehicle but failed.
Source - the herald
