Outcry over Beitbridge crack team operations
CROSS-BORDER traders, shipping agents and truck drivers using the Beitbridge Border Post have claimed abuse at the hands of a State security team deployed to stamp out smuggling and other illegal cross-border activities at the country’s main port of entry.
The security team, which travels in an unmarked Nissan Navara truck, has also been accused of demanding bribes from traders.
On Tuesday, the team allegedly demanded export documentation for six drivers transporting platinum from Mimosa to South Africa. When the drivers demanded the team members to identify themselves, they were allegedly handed over to police where three of them were detained.
“Our drivers were arrested for demanding identity cards. They carry valuable minerals and any documentation is from the Minerals Marketing Authority of Zimbabwe. If any operative of the government does not know Mimosa products, they are not worth to be in the force,” said a shipping agent who declined to be named.
But the tam leader Chief Superintendent Bakewell Ndlovu refuted the allegations.
“I would need anyone who has been approached by the team and has complaints,” she said.
–Newsday
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