Man nabbed for running ‘fake’ immigration office in Beitbridge

Image: ZimPapers

The chaos at the country’s borders, especially between South Africa and Zimbabwe have been making headlines following the recent closure of borders by authorities as they banned international travel.

The move was meant to curb the spread of coronavirus.

Meanwhile, this has seen the rise of illegal border crossings.

As for Zimbabwe the continued depletion of the local economy has pushed most locals out of the country in search of greener pastures.

Border crimes have risen too, this according to information from the police.

Meanwhile, a 44-year-old man believed to be part of a syndicate running a bogus immigration office in Beitbridge was early this morning arrested by border officials during a sting operation.

Thomas Chidza was nabbed at around 2am after having allegedly assisted a South African bus crew member to enter the country by endorsing his passport with a fake immigration stamp.

He was found with three immigration stamps, three rubber stencils, and several ink pads among other tools of the trade.

The Assistant Regional Immigration Officer (ARIO) in charge of Beitbridge Nqobile Ncube said Chidza was now in police custody pending a court appearance.

“Let this be a strong warning to other members of the syndicate that we will account for all of them.

“At the same time, we discourage travellers from making use of the services of such criminals as their risk losing their money and prosecution,” he said.

Ncube said they arrested Chidza after he was implicated by one of his agents, they found with the South African late on Thursday evening.

“We picked him in the morning during a sting operation,” he said.

-The Herald/ Zwnews