Blessing Nduku
The Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) recovered a massive haul of 164 bales of smuggled second-hand clothes and shoes from Mozambique in Delsford last week, highlighting their commitment to fighting illicit smuggling of goods from nearby countries.
Speaking to journalists, Chief Superintendent Dr Leon Marongedza, the DISPOL for Gweru District, said that they have been implementing and following government directions on smuggling goods from neighboring countries.
“The police here in Gweru have been conducting some surveillance to establish the culprits after we have been notified that some people are smuggling goods in our area.”
“I can safely say that last night at around 7 pm, we made a breakthrough after we had deployed some of our officers to catch these perpetrators and we recovered all these smuggled goods from Mozambique at a certain house in Daylesford.”
Dr Marongedza warned that all those involved in smuggling goods will always catch up with them.
“The government has a zero tolerance for smuggling since it is a directive, we will ensure that all the perpetrators who are engaging in these activities should immediately consider other ways as opposed to smuggling from other countries.”
“We are going to arrest all those perpetrators and in terms of value, we have not yet engaged ZIMRA, who is going to assist us with the proper value of these recovered goods.”
So far, two arrests have been made and police are in search of five other perpetrators.
The goods recovered are made up of fleece blankets, shoes, jeans, socks, jackets and many other assorted items.
The anti-smuggling operation was approved by the Cabinet in November last year.
The operation was implemented under the direction of His Excellency President Emmerson Mnangagwa, targeting smugglers operating along Zimbabwe’s porous borders and highways.
Some of these include importers and cross-border transporters who are involved in smuggling and unethical business practices.
