Cape Town – Police arrested 11 suspects and recovered chrome worth R5 million during a search and seize operation in Witbank on Thursday.
In a statement, police said the suspects included one female and eight males from Zimbabwe. The other two males were from Mozambique.
“On the day in question at around 15:00 a team of law enforcement agencies that were in possession of a search warrant conducted a sting operation. The team consisted of members from Witbank SAPS, Witbank Crime Intelligence members as well as officials from Transnet.
“A search and seizure was conducted by the astute members at Self Storage offices in Witbank. During the operation at the facilities, a discovery of four facility rooms packed with mining chrome was made. The police then arrested the eleven suspects on the premises whilst they were reportedly busy loading chrome into a truck,” said the police.
#sapsMP Eleven suspects were arrested and chrome worth an estimated R5 million was recovered on 28/04 in Witbank. Suspects were allegedly stealing and smuggling chrome from trains between Ferro Metals Witbank and Richardsbay in KwaZulu-Natal. NP https://t.co/tg20S8IgeC pic.twitter.com/X039Y7S79R
— SA Police Service ?? (@SAPoliceService) April 29, 2022
During the initial investigation conducted at the crime scene, it was discovered that the arrested suspects were part of suspects who were allegedly stealing and smuggling chrome from trains between Ferro Metals Witbank and Richardsbay in KwaZulu-Natal.
“It is suspected that the chrome was transported in trucks to Gauteng where it was then sold to certain individuals,” police said.
The investigation, police said, had so far, revealed that the woman, believed to be the kingpin, was in possession of a South African identity document while the rest did not have legal documents to be in the country.
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“The police are working in partnership with the department of Home Affairs to determine the status of the woman and also to find out how she got hold of the identity document,” said the police.
The suspects faced charges including, the illegal possession of mining chrome.
The other 10 were also charged for contravention of the Immigration Act of South Africa.
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Source: AFP
Picture: Twitter/@SAPoliceService
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