South African police recovered another vehicle on Monday which was being smuggled from that country into Zimbabwe through the Limpopo River, bringing the number of vehicles recovered within a week to five.
In the latest incident, the car was being pulled across the river by donkeys on Monday afternoon.
On Thursday last week, the same team also arrested a 28-year-old man whom they caught smuggling another stolen Mercedes Benz near the Panda Mine area of Beitbridge on the South African side of the border.
Earlier that week, police also recovered three other vehicles.
Limpopo police spokesperson, Brigadier Motlafela Mojapelo said investigations were in progress.
He said all the vehicles were recovered during operation ‘Vala Madi’, which is being jointly implemented by the police’s Crime Intelligence, Tactical Response Team, and Public Order Police, supported by South Africa’s Defence Forces. He said smuggling of goods and vehicles was rampant along the Limpopo River.
“A new shape Mercedes Benz sedan C220 was intercepted just in time before disappearing into Zimbabwe. The suspects were using donkeys to pull the car across the river but our members were just in time to pounce on them, after the donkeys were apparently no longer able to pull it through the sand,” said Brigadier Mojapelo.