41 foreign nationals, inclusive of 10 toddlers, were remanded in custody by the Barberton Magistarte’s Court on Monday, August 12.

The 15 males were remanded to August 20 for Legal aid representatives, and the 10 females together with toddlers were also remanded in custody and their case was postponed to Tuesday, August 13,for age determination and Legal Aid.

According to the provincial Hawks spokesperson Captain Dineo Sekgotodi, the group was arrested on Friday, August 08 at about 20:00 at Kaapmuiden.

“The arrest follows after information was received from Crime Intelligence regarding the two minibus taxi’s which were transporting undocumented people from Mozambique to Johannesburg. Kaapmuiden SAPS, Local Criminal Record Centre and Border Police, followed up on the information, the taxis were spotted, stopped and searched at N4 next to Kaapmuiden. During the search, a total of 16 women travelling with ten 10 toddlers, four teenage girls and fifteen 15 men were found without proper documentation,” she said.

The suspects were charged and detained on allegations of kidnapping, aiding, abetting and contravention of Immigration Act respectively.

The Nelspruit based Hawks’ Serious Organised Crime Investigation was informed invited to the crime scene and the case docket was handed over to them for further investigation.