Police officers with illicit creams. Photo: Limpopo police
LIMPOPO – A 27-year-old suspect was on Saturday, 26 January, arrested by police at the Groblersbrug Port of Entry in the Tom Burke policing area, for smuggling illicit cream and tablets worth millions of rands.
Police spokesperson, Colonel Moatshe Ngoepe, says the suspect, at the time of his arrest, had already crossed the border from Botswana into South Africa and was then directed towards the searching bay for investigation.
The truck the suspect was driving. Photo: Limpopo police
“During the searching process, boxes of Epiderm skin lightening creams and Cyproheptadine tablets were found hidden inside empty diesel tanks loaded at the back of the truck. The driver was then arrested on the spot,” he explained.
4 500 tubes of Epiderm creams (15g) and 80 000 Cyproheptadine tablets were seized.
“The total estimated value of these illicit creams and tablets is over R2.4 million and the suspect will appear before the Phalala Magistrates Court soon,” Ngoepe concluded.
Raeesa Sempe is a Caxton Award-winning Digital Editor with nine years’ experience in the industry. She holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Media Studies from the University of the Witwatersrand and started her journey as a community journalist for the Polokwane Review in 2015. She then became the online journalist for the Review in 2016 where she excelled in solidifying the Review’s digital footprint through Facebook lives, content creation and marketing campaigns. Raeesa then moved on to become the News Editor of the Bonus Review in 2019 and scooped up the Editorial Employee of the Year award in the same year. She is the current Digital Editor of the Polokwane Review-Observer, a position she takes pride in. Raeesa is married with one child and enjoys spending time with friends, listening to music and baking – when she has the time. “I still believe that if your aim is to change the world, journalism is a more immediate short-term weapon." – Tom Stoppard
