Human trafficking in Centurion probed
'A possibility of an involvement of a syndicate will also be investigated as similar cases were picked up in various areas recently.'
Police rescued 22 undocumented foreign nationals from a bakkie in Centurion on Thursday.
Provincial spokesperson Colonel Noxolo Kwezi said the vehicle was driven by a foreigner with falsified documents.
Police were investigating the possibility of a human trafficking syndicate operating between Pretoria and Tembisa, Kwezi said.
“A possibility of an involvement of a syndicate will… be investigated as similar cases were picked up in various areas recently.”
Kwezi said the bakkie was pulled over around noon over at a roadblock on the R21 near Irene.
“Police have rescued a group of children and adults.The children are aged between 2 months and 18 years. The adults were between 20 and 44 years old.”
The 38-year-old driver was carrying a fake passport. He told the police he was transporting the group to Tembisa.
“We cannot tell at this stage from which country he is from. But we will be working with home affairs officials to establish that,” said Kwezi.
Police had opened a human trafficking docket and were investigating.
The driver was expected to appear in court soon.
It was not immediately clear where the foreigners were taken .
Also read:
Be careful of what you throw away
Five minors injured in taxi collision
Do you have more information about the story? Please send us an email to editorial@rekord.co.za or phone us on 083 625 4114.
For free breaking and community news, visit Rekord’s websites:
For more news and interesting articles, like Rekord on Facebook, follow us on Twitter or Instagram.
