Police in Manica crackdown on smuggling: fuel, cement, bundles of clothing and more

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Police in Manica crackdown on smuggling: fuel, cement, bundles of clothing and more

7:17 CAT | 08 Dec 2016

Folha de Maputo (File photo)

The Mozambican police have seized 2,500 litres of fuel (petrol and diesel) and a hundred sacks of cement that were about to be smuggled into Zimbabwe.

The goods were to be taken across the border at Machipanda, in the central province of Manica, in a scheme organized by a group of youths, who fled as soon as they saw the police. They abandoned the cement and the fuel, which is now being stored in the Manica district police command, and in the provincial customs delegation.

The goods were seized in an operation involving the ordinary police and units of the frontier guard seeking to crack down on cross border smuggling.

The head of the public relations department in the Manica provincial police command, Leonardo Colher, told reporters that in other incidents forming part of the same operation, the police seized large quantities of soft drinks, bundles of clothing and footwear, and two vehicles being used to transport these goods.

“This work will continue, because we want to put the brakes on smuggling along the border”, promised Colher.

“Mozambicans take goods into Zimbabwe and vice versa”, he said. “The fuel is taken from the tanks of long distance trucks. They do this business at night, and it’s a business we want to stop. People should use the legal means and pay all the taxes imposed by the state, following the procedures laid down by law”.

Nobody has been detained yet, but the police found documents in the two vehicles seized, and believe these will lead them to the smugglers.

Source: AIM