Cross-border crime drops
Lesedi Mkhutshwa | Wednesday November 29, 2017 17:34
At the beginning of this year and last year, Mapoka, a village near the border with Zimbabwe in the district, was faced with increasing cross-border crime including smuggling of fuel, mainly petrol into Zimbabwe.
The criminals used illegal routes to transport the fuel and other stolen goods in order to avoid paying tax at the Ramokgwebana border post.
The dire economic situation in Zimbabwe for the past years is mostly blamed on the policies of former President, Robert Mugabe’s government as they forced many Zimbabweans to engage in illegal activities across the border in order to earn a living.
On the other hand, Mugabe blames sanctions that were imposed on his country by the western countries for his country’s various problems.
In an interview with Mmegi on Tuesday, Masunga station commander, Superintendent Gaolathe Ngayaya said over the past few weeks they have not recorded any unlawful act associated with cross-border crimes within their policing villages.
She said unlike in the past, reports show that cross-border crime involving smuggling of fuel to Zimbabwe from Botswana has drastically decreased.
“We haven’t recorded any case related to cross-border crime since September, which is a great improvement. Villagers living along the Botswana-Zimbabwe border such as Mapoka, Moroka, Nlaphwane are living in peace nowadays,” she said.
Ngayaya added that they hope that the situation will remain calm indefinitely.
She said last year and at the beginning of this year, they were concerned about the escalating cases of illegal conveying of hazardous goods, especially petrol without permit along the Botswana-Zimbabwe border. She said in 2016 they recorded four cases of cross-border smuggling of hazardous goods along the border near Mapoka village. Ngayaya further said they managed to retrieve 211 containers of 25 litres filled with petrol and other household goods, which were abandoned near the border.
She added that this year they only recorded two cases in which 60 containers of 230 litres of petrol and 57 containers of 20 litres of petrol were found being smuggled across the Zimbabwean border.
She said wrongdoers were charged with conveying of hazardous goods, especially petrol without a permit along the Botswana-Zimbabwe border and were fined between P1,000 and P5,000.
She said the declining cases of cross-border smuggling of petrol maybe attributed to the current situation in Zimbabwe and an ongoing operation along the Botswana-Zimbabwe border by members of the Botswana Police Service (BPS), Botswana Defence Force (BDF) and Special Support Group (SSG).
Kgosi Ngocha Habangana of Mapoka told Mmegi that incidents of cross-border crime are no more.
He said villagers are living in peace and tranquility, which he suspects is due to the current Zimbabwean crisis. The Mapoka chief said he hopes Zimbabweans resolve their economic issues so that more of their illegal immigrants could go back to their country.
Habangana expressed great gratitude to the operation undertaken by members of the BPS, BDF and SSG along the Botswana-Zimbabwean border.
He credited the operation for the decrease in the various crimes that were committed by locals in cahoots with Zimbabweans in villages along the border.