Police in Beitbridge have arrested a 34-year-old South African woman and a Zimbabwean man for allegedly attempting to smuggle six diamonds and 36 emeralds into South Africa.

Zimbabwean police spokesman for the Matabeleland South province, Insp Tafanana Dzirutwe, told Mirror that the two suspects were arrested on Friday last week (5 January) at a roadblock mounted along the Beitbridge-Masvingo road. "The suspects were traveling in a South African bound bus and on their being intercepted at the roadblock, our officers found the stones hidden in their bags, leading to their arrest. We suspect they intended to smuggle the emeralds and diamonds into South Africa through the Beitbridge border post," he said.

The value of the precious stones has not yet been determined.

Dzirutwe said the two suspects from Durban and Buhera area in Zimbabwe respectively appeared in court on Monday.

Rambanani Nee Lanthree and Colleen Mlambo were not asked to plead to the charges of contravening a section of the Criminal Law Codification and Reform Act when they appeared before Beitbridge magistrate Mr Tawengwa Sangster. The case was postponed to 31 January and they were released on Z$30 000 bail each.

Of late, there has been an increase in the number of smuggling cases involving diamonds, following the recent discovery of a diamond field in the eastern part of Zimbabwe. Police and soldiers have since cordoned off the area, following massive looting by both locals and foreigners, some from as far as Nigeria and Kenya.