Man nabbed using hearse to allegedly smuggle explosives

The police arrested a 30-year-old suspect at the Beitbridge Border post who was allegedly attempting to smuggle explosives into the country using a funeral undertaker’s vehicle.

The spokesperson of the police in Limpopo, Brigadier Motlafela Mojapelo said this arrest comes a week after two suspects were arrested at the same border post for smuggling illicit cigarettes hidden in a petrol tanker.

Mojapelo said the suspect who was attempting to allegedly smuggle explosives into South Africa was arrested on Sunday afternoon.

“Members were again busy with their routine duties at the border post when a vehicle branded with the name of a funeral parlour from Johannesburg in Gauteng province, approached towing a trailer. The vehicle was searched together with its trailer and the police found 306 units of blasting cartridges and four rims of detonating cord estimated at R700,800. The explosives were hidden in the trailer. The lone driver was immediately arrested.

The commissioner of the police in Limpopo, Lieutenant General Nneke Ledwaba commended the police for their continued “vigilance and dedication in arresting the smugglers”.

“The suspect, who is a foreign national, will appear in Musina Magistrate’s court soon on a charge of smuggling and possession of explosives,” Mojapelo said.

(Compiled by Makhosandile Zulu)

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