SAPS
Members of a national multi-disciplinary team targetting illegal mining, have arrested 97 people and a 62-year-old-old farm owner in Heidelberg in Gauteng.
Police spokesperson, Colonel Athlenda Mathe, says the arrests, announced on Monday, followed an Intelligence driven operation, where the team swooped on a farm where the illegal miners were operating from.
She said police seized mining equipment and implements, and also discovered that all the suspects, aged between 18 and 35, are Lesotho nationals and the majority were in the country illegally.
All the arrested suspects will appear before the Heidelberg Magistrate's Court soon on a string of charges.
Mathe said three unlicensed firearms and 570 rounds of ammunition were also seized.
"The firearms have been taken in for Ballistic testing to determine if they were utilised in any other crimes. The farm owner has also been arrested after he too was found with illegal ammunition and gold bearing equipment," she added.
