THEY rented a farm from the owner to process gold dust.
But the 97 zama zamas couldn’t believe it when a team of police arrived unexpectedly on Monday, 18 July to bust them for illegal mining activities they were conducting on the farm.
The farm owner was also arrested.
Neighbouring farm owners in Heidelberg, Gauteng were happy as this brought to an end irritating activities on the farm.
Colonel Athlenda Mathe said a national multi-disciplinary team established to clamp down on illicit mining activities arrested the illegal miners and a 62-year-old farm owner in Heidelberg. “Following an intelligence driven operation, a team consisting of specialised units in the SAPS swooped in on a farm where the illegal miners had been operating from,” she said.
Mathe said the suspects, aged between 18 and 35, were from Lesotho and most were in the country illegally. She said three unlicensed firearms and 570 rounds of ammunition and equipment used in processing gold dust were also seized.
“The firearms have been taken in for ballistic testing to determine if they were used in any other crimes.”
The farm owner was also arrested after he was found with illegal ammunition and gold-bearing equipment.
She said all suspects will appear in the Heidelberg Magistrates Court on charges of illegal mining, being in the country illegally, human trafficking, possession of explosives, as well as illegal possession of firearms and ammunition.
The team responsible for the arrests included the National Intervention Unit, Tactical Response Team, Public Order Police, Crime Intelligence, detectives, and bomb disposal specialists.
