Port Nolloth- 29 January 2024-In an attempt to address the ongoing challenge of illegal mining in the Namakwa District, a multi-disciplinary team led by the Deputy Provincial Commissioner for Policing, Major General Luntu Ngubelanga together with the Namakwa District Commissioner, Brigadier Skalk Andrews, Provincial components and external roleplayers executed an early morning raid on Monday, 29 January 2024 at the Bontekooi informal settlement in the Nuttabooi mining area. The operation dubbed Vala Umgodi, focused on transnational offences and the escalating crime in the Namakwa mining area.
The multi-disciplinary team comprising of SAPS, SANDF, the Department of Home Affairs, the National Prosecuting Authority, the Department of Justice and the Vetus Schola Security Company raided the settlement and arrested 24 undocumented persons for being illegally in the country.
Of the 24 persons , 18 were males and 6 females ( 11 Zimbabweans, 1 Mozambiquean and 12 Lesotho nationals were detained).
During the disruptive actions the teams seized and confiscated numerous mining implements including generators, sieves, jack hammers, invertors , safety boots, overalls, gas cylinders , a television set , cooking utensils and gas stoves. The items were discovered in an unoccupied shack at the settlement.
Major General Ngubelanga indicated that the police will not allow the province to be infiltrated by foreign nationals, hence the execution of these types of operations and we will squeeze the space for them to operate.
The Provincial Commissioner of the Northern Cape, Lieutenant General Koliswa Otola commended the collaborative efforts by all the role players for their relentless pursuit in eradicating illicit mining in the district. End
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