News / National
Border accident exposes smuggling racket
04 Sep 2018 at 06:43hrs | Views
TRAVELLERS at Beitbridge Border Post were on Sunday treated to a free movie when dozens of bottles of smuggled Broncleer cough syrup, with a street value of $500, fell off the front fenders of a Botswana-registered car following a road accident.
The vehicle was parked awkwardly behind a cross-border bus which reversed accidentally, hitting it in the precess.
"Bottles of the banned cough syrup started falling from above the front wheels and littered the floor under the bus shed. They fell and it was for all to see," a cleaner in the border post said.
'Subsequent searching by police and Customs and Excise officers revealed about two boxes with 50 bottles each," the cleaner said.
The vehicle owner, a stock-looking man, believed to be a member of a local Apostolic Faith church, was immediately arrested while the car was impounded by police.
The officer commanding police in Beitbridge Chief Superintendent Francis Phiri said he was still to be briefed about the incident.
"I am yet to be briefed about the accident," he said.
The accident, however, revealed what could be one of the many tactics used to bring illicit goods from neighbouring South Africa into Zimbabwe.
The vehicle was parked awkwardly behind a cross-border bus which reversed accidentally, hitting it in the precess.
"Bottles of the banned cough syrup started falling from above the front wheels and littered the floor under the bus shed. They fell and it was for all to see," a cleaner in the border post said.
'Subsequent searching by police and Customs and Excise officers revealed about two boxes with 50 bottles each," the cleaner said.
The officer commanding police in Beitbridge Chief Superintendent Francis Phiri said he was still to be briefed about the incident.
"I am yet to be briefed about the accident," he said.
The accident, however, revealed what could be one of the many tactics used to bring illicit goods from neighbouring South Africa into Zimbabwe.
Source - newsday
