Rustenburg - A truck driver and his assistant were arrested for possession of 50 bags of possible gold-bearing material, North-West police said on Sunday.
The duo, aged between 20 and 30, are expected to appear in court on Monday.
Police spokesperson Colonel Adel Myburgh said police officers at the Ramatlabama Port of Entry, stopped and searched a Volvo truck entering SA from Zambia via Botswana, en route to Johannesburg.
“During the search, the police discovered approximately 50 bags, containing possible gold-bearing material. The driver and passenger could neither account for the goods nor produce any documentation or authority to be in possession of this material,“ she said.
“The duo, aged 22 and 28, were immediately arrested and are expected to appear in the Molopo magistrate’s court in Mmabatho on Monday, 14 March 2022, on a charge of possession of possible gold-bearing material.”
In the Eastern Cape, three men were arrested for possession of unlicensed firearms and explosives near Mpantu Bridge at Port St Johns on Friday.
"Preliminary investigations suggests that SAPS members were conducting roadblocks and patrols on the R61 road between Lusikisiki and Port St Johns, when they stopped a white suspicious looking Toyota Corolla,” said spokesperson Brigadier Tembinkosi Kinana.
“As they searched the vehicle, they found three explosives and two firearms hidden inside the car. Explosives and forensics units were immediately called to process the crime scene and the explosives and firearms were confiscated as exhibits,” Kinana said.
“They will be sent to the ballistics unit to determine if they had not been used in the commission of other crimes elsewhere. The make and the origin of the explosives is yet to be established and it is not clear at this stage the destination of the explosives and firearms.”
IOL