The stolen double-cab bakkie recovered from the Limpopo River while being smuggled across the border to Zimbabwe was stolen in Durban earlier this month, police said on Saturday.
“After a four-hour operation, the car was recovered from the river and it was discovered that it had been stolen earlier this month in Durban, KwaZulu-Natal,” spokesperson Brigadier Motlafela Mojapelo said.
This comes after Limpopo police commissioner Lt-Gen Nneke Ledwaba noticed the smuggling of the bakkie while he was conducting “Operation Festive Season” in Musina and Beitbridge on Friday.
Mojapelo said the unusual aspect of this crime was that the suspects were using donkeys to pull the bakkie across the river.
“The provincial commissioner spotted a vehicle being smuggled across the Limpopo River between South Africa and Zimbabwe while he was in the police helicopter,” Mojapelo said.
“The vehicle was semi-submerged in the water and the suspects looked as though they were about to make use of five donkeys to pull it out towards the bank on the Zimbabwean side. Upon noticing the police, the suspects fled into Zimbabwe, leaving the vehicle in the water.”
Mojapelo said the donkeys were unharmed and “wandered off”, and no arrests had been made.
– African News Agency (ANA)
