A 29-year-old British national is expected to appear in the Musina Magistrate’s Court on Monday, after he was arrested for possession of suspected precious metals.
The man was arrested on July 25, by police attached to Beitbridge Port of Entry.
The Directorate for Priority Crimes Investigation (known as the Hawks) said police found stones suspected to be gold at the search bay.
Hawks spokesperson Warrant Officer Lethunya Mmuroa said the Musina-based Hawks Serious Organised Crime Investigation were summoned to the scene.
“The preliminary investigations revealed that abounded gold is estimated to the value of over R200,000.”
Mmuroa said later that day at around 5pm, an on-duty police official was allegedly approached by the suspect who was complaining about the police officials who had taken his gold in the morning.
“Following his complaint, police searched him and found 10 pieces of gold stones estimated at over a R1 million,” Mmuroa said.
“He was immediately arrested for unlawful possession of precious stones.”
A person usually requires a permit to deal with precious metals.
The Acting Provincial Head of the Hawks in Limpopo Province Brigadier SC Schambriel applauded the police for the “wonderful job done”.
In a similar incident a former Gauteng cop was arrested in May charged with contravention of the Precious Metals Act.
Jacob Abrahams Buys, 53, was arrested at his home in Benoni.
The Hawks said police team uncovered nine nuggets of gold inside his vehicle, a Mahindra. One platinum nugget was found in his home office.
IOL News