Durban - Police arrested three foreign nationals allegedly involved in illegal mining.
They were arrested at the Zandrivier mine in Bergenek, outside Polokwane on Tuesday afternoon at around 2pm.
Police spokesperson Colonel Malesela Ledwaba said when police pounced on the scene the suspects attempted to flee towards the top of the mountain.
“However, the police helicopter assisted in the tracking and subsequent arrest of the trio.”
During the arrest, police seized illegal mining equipment as well as a generator and solar panels.
“Police also seized 54 bags containing gold-bearing materials and explosives comprising 10 blasting cartridges, three-piece detonating cord and five detonating fuses.”
The suspects, two Mozambicans aged 31 and 45 and a 25-year-old Zimbabwean national, will appear before the Polokwane Magistrate’s Court on Friday facing charges of illegal mining, possession of explosives and contravention of the Immigration Act.
Ledwana said the arrests were made possible through a multidisciplinary operation by members of the Provincial Organised Crime Investigation unit, Public Order Policing (POP) , Illegal Mining Task Team, Airwing, Explosives unit, Provincial Local Criminal Record Centre (LCRC) Task Team, Tshimollo Security Company and Department of Minerals and Energy (DMRE) who conducted an operation in the area to disrupt illegal mining.
Earlier this month, 87 illegal miners who were arrested during a multidisciplinary operation at Shaft 2 in Orkney on October 20, 2021, were sentenced to a combined 696 years of imprisonment.
IOL