Illegally imported vehicles to be destroyed

More than 500 illegally imported vehicles that were fraudulently registered on the National Traffic Information System (NaTIS) were expected to be destroyed by the Road Traffic Management Corporation (RTMC) and SAPS this week.

“Investigations revealed that the vehicles in question were all illegally imported, predominantly from Japan. They were prohibited for use in South Africa as they were meant to be in transit for other parts of the continent,” RTMC spokesperson, Simon Zwane said.

He said these vehicles, which were sold at reduced prices, led to criminal syndicates and unscrupulous officials bypassing the system.

Zwane said that the modus operandi they used entailed the following:

– Applicants, who were also part of the syndicate, approached an official from the registering authority to initiate the introduction of the vehicle into the system;

– Two SAPS VSS members issuing fraudulent police clearances for the vehicles;

– Roadworthy centres fraudulently issuing certificates of roadworthiness;

– The vehicles being registered onto the system by three specific officials.

The destruction of the vehicles was as a result of a joint operation by the RTMC’s national anti-corruption unit, National Prosecuting Authority, special investigative unit and the SAPS’s anti-corruption, vehicle safety storage and crime intelligence units in 2017.

“The operation was launched following months of investigation and the analysis of data on the NaTIS system revealed a pattern of how vehicles were fraudulently registered onto the system,” Zwane said.

This subsequently led to 520 vehicles being impounded and 17 people – including SAPS members, Department of Transport officials and foreign nationals – being arrested.

“During the investigation, vehicles illegally purchased from the syndicate were seized from members of the public together with documents from the helpdesk, registering authority, SAPS VSS and roadworthy centres,” he said.

Of the vehicles which were impounded, 91 were confirmed to be illegal vehicles with fraudulent licence discs which purported that they were from neighbouring countries, like Malawi.

“Some of the vehicles used false registration plates from Cape Town and KwaZulu-Natal as a way of misleading traffic officers into believing that the vehicles were of South African origin,” Zwane said.

The 17 people who were arrested, in 2019, faced charges of forgery, money laundering, common law fraud, corruption, selling illicit goods and contravention of the customs and excise and national road traffic acts.

They were all released on R2 000 bail.

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: Rekord East

For more news and interesting articles, like Rekord on Facebook, follow us on Twitter or Instagram