Two Zimbabwean women, aged 31 and 32 respectively, were nabbed along Alldays-Vivo public road, after they were found in possession of 74 cartons of smuggled Zimbabwean cigarettes and gold worth thousands of rands.

Police spokesman for Limpopo Province Supt Ailwei Mushavhanamadi said the suspects were arrested at a roadblock between Friday and Saturday midnight.

"We arrested two Zimbabwean women for possessing illegal cigarettes and gold, which we suspect they had smuggled into the country," he said.

Mushavhanamadi could not, however, disclose the exact value of the contraband including the weight of the impounded gold. The suspects are expected to appear in court soon on smuggling charges.

"We would like to believe that the suspects are part of a smuggling syndicate involving several others; however, we are still investigating and we hope more suspects will be arrested in the long run as we continue with our investigations," Mushavhanamadi said.

Of late there has been an increase in the number of smuggling cases involving consignments of Zimbabwean illegal cigarettes finding their way into the country through Beitbridge border post. Recently, a tanker containing 9000 cartons of smuggled cigarettes worth R2.5 million was also intercepted along the N1-highway and three Zimbabweans and a Zambian were arrested.

Meanwhile, in another unrelated case, three people were arrested in the Madimbo area near Musina for allegedly being found in possession of unlicensed firearms. Mushavhanamadi said the suspects, who are aged 31, 32 and 44 respectively, were arrested near a certain undisclosed farm on Saturday night.

"The suspects were found in possession of a .38 special revolver, which was hidden inside their car and, on being intercepted by our officers along the Madimbo-Tshamutumbu road, they discovered the firearm, which was not registered, leading to the subsequent arrest of the three suspects," he said.

Mushavhanamadi said the three suspects would appear in court soon.