Three men arrested and charged with illegal mining at Ga Maroga
The trio were remanded in custody until March 2 for further investigation.
Charles Maroga (35), Simphiwe Shabangu (37) and Steven Mgadula (57) appeared in the Mecklenburg Magistrate’s Court on February 27 on charges of illegal mining.
The trio were remanded in custody until March 2 for further investigation.
The Hawks are continuing to dismantle illegal mining syndicate operations by conducting disruptive multidisciplinary operations.
This follows a successful operation consisting of the Limpopo Hawks’ Serious Organised Crime Investigation, the National Serious Organised Crime Investigation, the Provincial Illegal Mining Task Team, National Crime Intelligence, the Local Criminal Record Centre and the State Security Agency, that resulted in the arrest of the three alleged illegal miners at Ga-Maroga village in Driekop on
February 25.
“The team received intelligence about an ongoing illegal mining activities in the area and swiftly conducted a sting operation. When the team pounced on the suspects they were allegedly caught loading chrome that was illegally mined onto the truck.
“During the operation the team managed to seize a TLB, tipper truck fully loaded with chrome, a Jeep Wrangler vehicle and a firearm with 18 rounds of ammunition. The seized assets are valued at R2m,” revealed Limpopo Hawks spokesperson, Captain Matimba Maluleke.
The provincial head of the Hawks in Limpopo, Major General Gopz Govender, has issued a stern warning to illegal miners, particularly the masterminds.
“It is high time that those who are involved in illegal mining activities refrain from such because their days are numbered. We will use every resource at our disposal to fight this scourge. We will also make sure that their assets accumulated through this criminal act are forfeited”.
