Bogus clearing agents and conmen have descended on the Beit Bridge Border Post, where they are capitalising on the recent sharp increase in the volume of human traffic to swindle travellers out of their money.

When Limpopo Mirror visited the border post last Friday, conmen and bogus clearing agents could be seen milling around the customs yard touting for “clients.” They continue to find their way into the border area through the porous perimeter fence and they are synonymous with swindling unsuspecting travellers out of their money.

They target mostly first-time visitors and foreigners not familiar with Zimbabwean immigration and customs procedures. They then approach them under the guise of offering to assist in completing the formalities for a fee. The “services” range from completing customs declaration forms to “quickening the border clearance process” by jumping queues and, in the process, causing commotion at the customs and immigration halls.

Limpopo Mirror observed a small of group of South African tourists being conned of their money by two men who masqueraded as clearing agents. The local regional immigration manager in charge of Beit Bridge Border Post, Mr Charles Gwede, says the border post has been extremely busy of late, resulting in criminals' taking advantage of the situation.

“We are aware that criminals, especially conmen and bogus clearing agents, are taking advantage of long queues at the border to lure unsuspecting travellers into accepting their dubious services. The challenge that we are facing as immigration department is that we have an acute shortage of staff to clear queues during busy days as well as monitoring touts at the same time, thereby making it easy for these criminals to approach travellers and swindle them out of their money,” he says.

Gwede has warned travellers against accepting the services of conmen and unregistered clearing agents. Investigations by Limpopo Mirror revealed that a conman would demand an average of R500 to assist a traveller to complete a customs declaration form. The fee escalates to between R800 and R1 000, however, if a traveller is in possession goods that require the payment of customs duties and the touts facilitate in smuggling the goods across the border. It is, however, the responsibility of the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority and immigration officials to assist travellers not familiar with the border processes and no fee is charged.

Mr James Mudavanhu, a registered local clearing agent, said: “Bogus clearing agents are tarnishing our image. They continue to enter the customs yard and con unsuspecting travellers. What is mindboggling is the fact that there are police officers and security personnel manning the border, but these criminals conduct their illicit activities right under these people's noses.”

Gwede says that despite the border post's having been declared a security area, criminals continued to sneak into the yard through a damaged perimeter fence. “The border post is a security zone and there has to be controlled access. We are saying only bona fide travellers and those with relevant business should be seen at the border. However, sadly, criminals continue to access the area largely because of lax security and the porous fence. We therefore urge all key stakeholders, especially the police, to intensify patrols at the border post to address this problem of criminality,” he said.

Beit Bridge is the busiest inland port of entry in sub-Saharan Africa and handles an average of 15 000 travellers every day, including a huge volume of commercial traffic passing through. However, during the peak period, the number of travellers goes up to about 25 000.