[Image: Flickr]
Police in the Eastern Cape have busted a jaw-dropping human trafficking operation after two men were caught red-handed allegedly smuggling ten children across the border from Lesotho.
The whole thing started to unravel thanks to a switched-on community member who spotted a man with a suspiciously large child entourage hanging around a petrol station in Matatiele on Saturday, June 14, IOL reported.
Cue the sirens.
Police swooped in and arrested the two suspects — a 40-year-old and his 20-year-old sidekick — and rescued all ten children before things could go from bad to unthinkable.
Brigadier Nobuntu Gantana confirmed that the older suspect, a Lesotho national who couldn’t produce so much as a scrap of valid documentation, spun a wild tale about ferrying the kids to meet their mothers in Pietermaritzburg. But the story collapsed faster than a toddler’s sandcastle.
“However, the children contradicted this, stating they did not know the man and that he had taken them from Qacha’s Nek, Lesotho, under false pretences of reuniting them with their mothers. They confirmed illegal entry into South Africa via an unofficial crossing near Paqama,” said Gantana.
Now the suspects are facing serious charges under the Prevention and Combating of Trafficking in Persons Act and the Immigration Act. And they’ll be explaining themselves in front of a magistrate soon enough.
In the meantime, the Department of Social Development has stepped in to make sure the children are safe, supported, and kept far away from the nightmare they narrowly escaped.
Major General Thandiswa Kupiso, acting Eastern Cape Provincial Commissioner, said: “This intervention potentially saved these children from further harm”, calling on the public to stay sharp:
“We urge the public to report suspicious activities related to trafficking or illegal immigration to their nearest police station.”
As for the investigation, it’s far from over. Authorities are digging deeper, determined to rip up any syndicate roots connected to this cross-border horror show.
[Source: IOL]
