POLOKWANE – Two suspects were apprehended for being in possession of illicit cigarettes during the Launch of Safer Festive Season Operations on Thursday 24 November 2022.

The suspects,  who are  female and male, were  driving a silver BMW sedan along the N1 south when they were stopped and searched during the Operation that formed part of the multi-disciplinary forces which consisted of the SAPS, Traffic Police, Home Affairs Personnel, Community Policing Forums (CPF’s) and members of the Emergency Medical Services (EMS).

Remington Gold illicit Cigarettes amounting to over R100 000-00 were found fully loaded inside the motor vehicle and the two were immediately nabbed on the spot. Preliminary Investigations indicated that the suspects were from Zimbabwe and the illicit cigarettes were headed for Gauteng Province after being smuggled from Beitbridge Port of Entry.

The suspects will appear before Polokwane Magistrate’s court on Monday facing possession and transportation of illicit cigarettes.

Their duties commenced with a parade led by the Deputy Provincial Commissioner Policing Major General Jan Scheepers in the early hours at about 05:30 at Shell Ultra City.

During the multidisciplinary parade, the Provincial Commissioner, Lieutenant General Thembi Hadebe handed over an Operational Plan for the Safer Festive Season Operations to MEC Radzilani as part of the Commitment of the South African Police Service in the Province that the plan will be implemented during this period. She further announced the arrest of the suspects involved in the recent business robbery incidents that took place at the Mall of the North in a Retail Store the previous week. “Those suspects have been arrested in KwaZulu-Natal Province and are also linked to a series of crimes committed within that Province and are yet to be connected to other crimes committed in our Province,”.

“We are the only province in the Country that has managed to reduce the rate of carjacking as it was mentioned during the Crime Statistics presentations by Minister of Police and we still have to work hard on that and on other crimes,” said Lieutenant General Hadebe. 

Lieutenant General Hadebe indicated that as we approach the Festive Season we must protect our communities and also remember to fight crimes against women and children in commemoration of the 16 Days of Activism.

“Recently a 9-year-old child was thrown in a dam of water and another 1-year-old baby was raped and killed in Lebowakgomo. We need to identify those suspects involved and apprehend them as early as yesterday in the process of ending the scourge of Gender Based Violence and Femicide,” said Lieutenant General Hadebe.

The MEC Florence Radzilani assured the Provincial Commissioner of full support to the police in the fight against crime. “Our Traffic Police will at all times be in collaboration with the SAPS in their operations during this festive season and beyond, in the fight against crime,” she concluded.

Source: South African Police Service