SAPS in the Eastern Cape and the RTMC will be destroying 520 illegally imported vehicles. Photo: David Valenzuela / Flickr
Eastern Cape SAPS and RTMC to destroy 520 illegally imported vehicles
17 people were arrested in connection with an illegal car-smuggling syndicate and SAPS are soon to destroy the vehicles.
SAPS in the Eastern Cape and the RTMC will be destroying 520 illegally imported vehicles. Photo: David Valenzuela / Flickr
The Road Traffic Management Corporation (RTMC) and Eastern Cape SAPS are set to destroy 520 cars. The vehicles in question were illegally imported into South Africa before being fraudulently registered.
A mass operation after investigation resulted in the arrests
Spokesperson for the RTMC Simon Zwane revealed that the vehicles were tracked in 2017 through a mass operation. Members from the SAPS’ crime intelligence, anti-corruption, vehicle safety storage units as well as the NPA and RTMC’s anti-corruption units worked together.
The mass operation discovered a massive car-smuggling syndicate. Police officers and other government employees were found to be part of the syndicate. Zwane explained that the operation was launched after months of investigating and analysing data on the National Administration Traffic Information System (NaTIS).
The investigations revealed a pattern of vehicles that were found to be fraudulently registered by the Eastern Cape Department of Transport’s help desk.
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Police officers, transport department officials and foreign nationals were arrested. A total of 17 people were apprehended by officials who formed part of the mass operation.
The 17 individuals are facing charges including money laundering, common law fraud, forging, corruption, contravention of the Customs and Excise Act, selling of illicit goods and the contravention of the National Road Traffic Act/
They are all out on R2,000 bail.
Zwane revealed that the foreign nationals who were arrested in connection with the illegal importing of vehicles are suspected to be the kingpins.
RTMC’s spokesperson shares details about the vehicles
Going into more detail, Zwane shared that majority of the vehicles were from Japan and were not allowed to be used in South Africa. The vehicles were supposed to be in transit to be exported to other parts of the continent.
He shared that the vehicles were sold at a lower amount. This prompted the syndicates and officers to bypass the system and illegal register the cars, reports TimesLIVE.
91 of the 520 confiscated vehicles were confirmed t be illegal cars with fraudulent licence discs. Some of the illegal vehicles used fake number plates from KwaZulu-Natal and Cape Town in order to mislead traffic officials.
