A 37-year-old unregistered Zimbabwean cross-border transport operator was arrested for attempting to smuggle a group of nine children into South Africa through the Beit Bridge Border Post.

The children’s ages range between two and 12. A suspect was arrested on Thursday at around 07:00, following the interception of his vehicle, a Toyota Hilux, at a road block along the Beit Bridge-Bulawayo highway. Police discovered that the car had a group of nine undocumented children on board, who were being  transported to South Africa illegally.

Supt Conrad Manhai confirmed the arrest, saying the suspect would appear in court soon on charges of assisting border jumpers. The minors were taken to the Save the Children (UK) centre in the border town, where they were offered temporary shelter.

Manhai warned people against approaching illegal cross border transporters to assist them in smuggling their children, saying it was risky. “As police we continue to handle such cases of children being smuggled into South Africa through Beit Bridge. We would like to warn Zimbabweans based in South Africa against approaching such people to help them smuggle in their children. In fact, we continue to urge people to use the legal channels by acquiring travel documents,” he said.

The latest incident comes hot on the heels of a similar case, in which another 32-year-old local cross border transport operator was arrested for attempting to smuggle a group of border jumpers, among them 21 undocumented children. He was spotted by South African police while loading the border jumpers into his kombi near Beit Bridge border post, leading to his arrest.

The border jumpers were then taken to the South African Home Affairs department and they were handed over to the Zimbabwean authorities. Illegal cross border transporters normally help border jumpers cross the border into South Africa through undesignated entry points along the Limpopo River. They then drive to the South African side where they pick up the border jumpers, before ferrying them to Gauteng, for fees ranging between R300 and R1 500.