A Bangladeshi man allegedly posing as a department of home affairs official was among four people arrested on Thursday as part of a police investigation into a human-trafficking gang.
Three of the four men, all Bangladeshi nationals in the country illegally, apparently paid the "official" who operated as their "handler" R50 000 each to be assisted in entering South Africa.
The men were arrested during a sting operation at a lodge in Musina following a tip-off to the Limpopo provincial police VIP commander, Director Joseph Makushu, in the early hours of Thursday morning.
The arrests once again highlighted the plight of thousands of people trafficked into South Africa every year, for among others, sexual exploitation. The victims - including women and children - are known to come from as far afield as Eastern Europe, Thailand and Africa, according to International Organisation of Migration (IOM).
Regarding Thursday's arrests, detectives were investigating whether the "handler" was luring his victims by posing as a South African home affairs department official who promised he would provide them with genuine South African identity documents and passports.
Police set up a sting operation involving crime intelligence agents after the "handler" apparently tried to bribe Makushu. Police raided the lodge in Musina and discovered the three smuggled Bangladeshi nationals who were locked inside two rooms.
Police spokesperson Senior Superintendent Vish Naidoo said detectives were investigating whether the "handler" was in charge of the "immigration operation" and what route was used to smuggle the men into South Africa.
"From the way the man was running the operation there is reasonable suspicion to believe that he has done this before," said Naidoo. The men had been "assisted" into South Africa through the Beit Bridge border post.
He confirmed that the three men had paid the "handler" R50 000 each to be brought into South Africa.
Naidoo said police stormed the lodge and arrested the men after Makushu pretended he would accept the bribe. "The four men have all been charged under the Immigration Act and will appear in Musina magistrate's court today," he said.
IOM information co-ordinator Karen Blackman said their research had shown that thousands of women and children were brought into South Africa for sexual exploitation every year.
"As many as 1 000 Mozambique women and children are trafficked every year into South Africa for sexual exploitation, while between 800 and 1 000 women are trafficked from Thailand for the same reason.
"Other nationals trafficked into South Africa for sexual exploitation include Chinese, Russian, Eastern Europeans and people from southern Africa," she said.
Blackman said the IOM had established a counter-trafficking assistance programme in South Africa to help people who were victims of the trade.
"The difficulty in combating human trafficking in South Africa is that there is very little data on the crime," she said.
Blackman said smuggling in the southern Africa region was a concern both to the security of countries in the area as well as to the individuals involved. "Smuggling poses a danger to those being smuggled because it renders them vulnerable to abuse from the smugglers who could be human traffickers," she said.
The Home Affairs Department was not available for comment at the time of going to Press.
Anyone needing information on human smuggling or trafficking or wanting to report such a case can call the IOM helpline on 0800 555999.