Contraband and drug smugglers were the lead offenders in September in the ongoing border protection tasking assigned to the landward service of the SA National Defence Force (SANDF).
All told SA Army soldiers from both the regular and reserve forces confiscated R5.8 million worth of contraband and drugs from smugglers, with Mozambicans attempting to enter South Africa illegally across the KwaZulu-Natal and Mpumalanga borders the biggest culprits.
Drugs valued at just over R3 million were seized in three provinces, with the largest haul (R2 million) seized in Mpumalanga last month. Contraband worth R2.8 million was recovered by soldiers, with the majority of that being seized in Limpopo (R2.4 million).
In August soldiers on the border protection tasking Operation Corona confiscated narcotics worth just under R800 000.
Illegal immigrant apprehensions in September totalled 322, according to statistics from the Joint Operations Division of the SANDF – well up from the 64 detained in August, but still short of the 456 handed to Department of Home Affairs (DHA) officials and police in July.
At 222, Mozambicans were the single largest contributor to the month’s illegal immigrant apprehensions with Mozambicans stopped by soldiers on the KwaZulu-Natal border adding, along with Swazis, 36 to that number. Twenty-three Basotho and six Batswana also found themselves in custody ahead of deportation to their home countries.
Soldiers on land borders with Eswatini, Lesotho and Mozambique recovered livestock (cattle and small stock such as goats and sheep) worth R1.1 million in September. Cattle all told valued at over R500 000 was moved to police and other compounds after being found illegally on South African pastureland bordering the same three countries.
No livestock was reported recovered in August by the Joint Operations Division of the SANDF, nor were any firearms seized.
In September, soldiers also prevented an unknown number of stolen vehicles valued at R7.9 million from illegally exiting South Africa via the Mpumalanga/Mozambique and Limpopo/Zimbabwe land borders. This compares with R1.8 million worth of stolen vehicles recovered in August and R8 million in July.
Joint Operations further reported the apprehension of 36 “criminals” attempting to reach Lesotho and Mozambique in September. A total of 27 criminals were apprehended in Operation Corona patrols in August.
