Cape Town – Four people, including parents, appeared in the Botshabelo Magistrate’s court in Free State on charges of illegal adoption and fraud on Monday.
Two of the suspects aged 35 and 51 were arrested on Friday, March 17 after police were reportedly alerted of their suspicious behaviour by a home affairs official.
IOL reported that the other two aged 29 and 59 were apprehended on Saturday.
According to Hawks Free State spokesperson Warrant Officer Fikiswa Matoti, it was alleged that two females went to Botshabelo Home Affairs for late registration applications for two children, aged 5 and 15, the report said.
She said the Home Affairs official became suspicious and immediately notified the police.
ALSO READ | Girl, 9, among five people killed in Durban shootings
Preliminary investigation revealed that an official from the Department of Health allegedly recruited foreign nationals to illegally adopt children, reported TimesLIVE.
“The recruited woman identifies children and negotiates with their parents to give consent in exchange for a monetary reward should they agree. She would [then] take the children to a home affairs official who will register them,” the report quoted Matoti as saying.
The report said that the children were then registered for Sassa grants, which were shared among the suspects.
The matter was referred to the Hawks’ serious organised crime investigation based in Bloemfontein for further investigation, the report said.
More arrests were imminent, said Matoti.
Follow African Insider on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram
Picture: Pexels
For more African news, visit Africaninsider.com
Compiled by Olwethu Mpeshe
