South African (SA) nationals have made up the weekly toll arrests of suspects in cases of stolen vehicles from the southerly neighbour. The suspects have been using Botswana as a transit to smuggle stolen vehicles to Zambia and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Already, Dibete police have intercepted nine stolen vehicles with the most stolen vehicles being the Toyota models, particularly the Toyota Hilux GD6 and Toyota Fortuner. Weekly interception of SA auto thieves driving from the south to north of the country has been occurring.
In a rather shocking experience, two weeks ago Dibete police nabbed two SA women who were suspected to be the brains of the operation. Cops discovered from the women's passports that they had been crossing the border into Botswana every week, driving into the country, and returning by flight to SA from the DRC. At the time of arrest, the duo had entered the country via the Sikwane border post and drove to the north of the country. Dibete Police Station commander, Superintendent Meshack Ranku said they suspect that the two women might have been smuggling vehicles for a while without being detected looking at the information from their passports. From observation, the police said the duo's travel patterns give a telling picture. “We suspect that there is a market for these stolen vehicles in DRC and Mozambique (because) it is where they have to cross to. A few days ago, we arrested yet another SA man of Thabo Sehune, Pretoria with a suspected stolen Ford Everest,” he said. Ranku added that the Pretoria resident was intercepted by the police at the barrier gate around 4am. “All of the people we have intercepted were heading north of the country hence strongly suspecting they might have established a market either in Zambia, Mozambique or DRC and using Botswana as a transit to smuggle these vehicles," he said.
