SMUGGLING ACROSS THE BORDER
IT IS just after midnight on patrol in Musina on the Beitbridge border post into Zimbabwe.
The Limpopo town is grappling with human trafficking, illicit cigarettes, drugs and other illegal substances smuggled daily.
As a result of illegal movement across the border, the town’s public facilities such as hospitals and police stations are bursting at the seams with undocumented people.
In a bid to curb the exodus, members of the Musina Community Policing Forum (CPF) like Danny Barry make nightly patrols along notorious routes used by smugglers.
It’s an uneventful night in which the only drama we came across was that of suspicious men off-loading goods from a truck in the dark.
We also saw some people jumping out of two vehicles into a truck, what Barry suspected to be another one of many cases of human trafficking.
Barry and his CPF colleagues keep watch for any suspicious behaviour
SARS spokesman Luther Lebelo said illicit cigarettes account for nearly 95% of the goods confiscated by customs at Beitbridge.
Lebelo said during 2014/15, customs made 197 seizures of cigarettes comprising 3 789 cartons valued at more than R36-million.
The Tobacco Institute of Southern Africa (Tisa) said this has cost government R23-billion since 2010.
But, it’s not only cigarettes that are smuggled in their thousands.
Last month, Solomon Mersha of the Ethiopian Eritrean Refugee Association told Sowetan that a network of contacts had informed him that 3 000 of his countrymen were making their way to South Africa via the border.
The authorities have now put in place different detection methods, including specially trained dogs, and random inspections have been used to target smugglers.
Lebelo said SARS plans to introduce new cargoscanning technology before the end of the year to heighten security efforts.
“There is a huge number of travellers passing through the border posts. It is impossible to stop and inspect 100% of all travellers, vehicles and buses; if we did, trade and the economy would be affected negatively due to the delays, ” he said.
Lebelo said there were different elements promoting smuggling, including corrupt officials who collude with syndicates.
Last year, 19 Limpopo police officers were investigated for escorting vehicles carrying illegal cigarettes from Zimbabwe into the country.
Police spokeswoman Colonel Ronel Otto said secret compartments, tyres and sometimes bread and other food parcels were used to conceal illicit goods.
During the long night’s patrol, Sowetan also spotted men loading wrapped packages onto a bakkie.
They moved swiftly as they carried the tightly wrapped packages from one vehicle to another. Barry noted that they could be smugglers.
He hinted that there was a long way to go before the smuggling was brought under control. “They [smugglers] are always changing the way they do things. They try to keep a step ahead of everyone.”