POLOKWANE – A third person was apprehended for allegedly smuggling explosives from Zimbabwe into South Africa at the Beit Bridge border post near Musina, making this the third arrest of its kind over a five-week period.
Provincial police spokesperson, Brig Hangwani Mulaudzi, said Nkosintahi Ndlovu (36) was travelling in a taxi from Zimbabwe to South Africa in the early hours of last Thursday morning when he was arrested at the Beit Bridge border post.
He said the taxi that Ndlovu was travelling in was stopped for a routine search of all passengers and a Beit Bridge K9 unit sniffer dog indicated there was something suspicious about the man’s luggage. “During a thorough search of his luggage, 30 pieces of explosives without detonators were discovered,” Mulaudzi said.
Ndlovu appeared before the Musina magistrate’s court later the same day in connection with the illegal possession of explosives.
The case was postponed to November 28 for further investigation and Ndlovu, was detained in custody.
This was the third incident of this nature in five weeks. Last Tuesday, 13 explosive cartridges and 13 detonator cap fuses were allegedly found in the overhead luggage compartment of a bus travelling from Zimbabwe to South Africa when a routine search was done, also at the Beit Bridge border post.
“The bus was impounded and the passengers were questioned. Zikhala Busane (24) was arrested after being linked to the explosives.”
Busane appeared before the Musina magistrate’s court last Wednesday and will appear again on November 27 for a formal bail application. Mulaudzi said Busane allegedly had two passports with him, one from Mozambique and one from Zimbabwe.
The explosives were similar to those allegedly found in 23-year-old Elita Sibanda’s luggage. Sibanda was arrested last month, and was allegedly in possession of 26 plastic cartridges and 100 detonators at the time of her arrest. She was travlling in a bus to South Africa, Mulaudzi said. “The bomb disposal unit was summoned and they confirmed the confiscated items were indeed explosives.”
Sibanda’s most recent court appearance in this connection was before the Musina magistrate’s court last week. She will have to answer to charges of unauthorised importation, as well as the supply and possession of explosives or incendiary devices or parts thereof, Mulaudzi said. Her appearance last week was for a bail application, however, the case was postponed to today (Tuesday).
He said the possibility that the explosives could have been destined to be used for blasting open ATM machines, had not been ruled out. Further investigations continued.
