THE MAJORITY OF THE SUSPECTED ILLEGAL MINERS ARRESTED IN STILFONTEIN WERE FOUND TO BE ILLEGAL IN SOUTH AFRICA
The Stilfontein Magistrates’ Court postponed the case of 14 suspected illegal miners who were arrested in Stilfontein to 28 March 2023 for further investigations. They have all abandoned their bail application as they are all illegal in the country. Meanwhile, the 15th suspect who is a South African citizen will appear on 03 March 2023, for a formal bail application. He is charged separately as he was found in possession of a firearm and explosives.
One accused was verified to be from Lesotho, one Mozambican and twelve from Zimbabwe. They are charged with the violation of the Immigration Act as well as illegal mining. The state is not ruling out the possibility of adding more charges.
According to the Hawks, these suspects were arrested during a multi-disciplinary operation by the Hawks’ Serious Organised Crime Investigation assisted by the North West Airwing, Explosives unit, Cluster IMTT, Public Order Policing, Tactical Response Team, Crime Prevention Unit, Local Criminal Record Centre and the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy.
The team followed up on information regarding the alleged illegal mining activities at Quest mine which is situated just off Buffeldoorn road. Resultantly, fifteen alleged illegal miners were flushed out from underground leading to their subsequent arrest.
The Hawks further indicated that these elaborate illegal mining activities were allegedly operated through a heavy-duty industrial generator, whilst supplemented by other smaller generators which were strategically located at multiple processing stations for gold-bearing material.
During the operation two firearms were seized, explosive cartridges, detonating cords, capped fuses, four generators and illegal mining paraphernalia which consisted of 23 buckets of gold-bearing material, electric mills, heavy-duty electrical equipment, water pumps and diesel. In addition, large amounts of food were also seized.
All suspects will remain in police custody until the next court appearance.
