Durban - Police in the Northern Cape have opened an enquiry docket to determine the fate of two people, after they were found transporting suspected contraband cigarettes on the N12 south of Kimberley on Sunday.
Northern Cape police spokesperson, Captain Olebogeng Tawana said police received a tip-off about the truck and managed to track it down.
The truck was found with an estimated value of more than one million rand in contraband cigarettes.
Tawana said the truck was heading to De Aar, around 250 kilometres south of Kimberley.
Tawana said the two occupants in the vehicle, aged 56 and 37, were not placed under arrest.
He said once a tobacco expert brand confirms if the cigarettes are illegal, then only will the suspects be arrested.
“As of now, we have those two people’s information. We have opened an enquiry docket and are waiting for confirmation on the cigarettes. Once the brand expert identifies if these cigarettes are illegal, we will arrest them,” Tawana told IOL.
Meanwhile, a truck driver was released on R4 000 bail last week, after he was caught with an estimated R1.5 million worth of illegal cigarettes at the Skilpadshek border post between South Africa and Botswana.
Police said the truck was searched at the border and had a hidden compartment that the cigarettes were kept in.
The suspect made his first appearance last week in the Lehurutshe Magistrate’s Court in the North West for possession of illicit cigarettes.
“According to information, a search was conducted on the truck that was entering the country from Zimbabwe via Botswana. During the search, illicit cigarettes with an estimated street value of R1.5 million were found in a false compartment,” the police said.
The rise of the illicit cigarette trade has been prominent since the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic when the government had imposed strict lockdown rules that forbid the sale of alcohol and cigarettes.
Smokers were forced to consume cheaper brands marked at highly inflated prices due to the halt on supply of usually purchased brands like Stuyvesant, Dunhill and Marlboro.
Cigarettes like R.G and C.K were being sold for almost six times their usual market price.
A box of Stuyvesant, when available, sold for around R100-R150 per box of 20 during the lockdown period.
IOL