31 Mar 2020

Police have arrested three border jumpers who entered the country from South Africa recently.

Baines Drift Police Station Commander, Superintendent Onneetse Gagogosha said the trio included two men from Mathathane and Moletemane and one South African woman.

He said the three were arrested on different dates after a tip off from some residents of Mathathane and Moletemane.

He added that the first arrest was that of a couple, a Motswana man and South African woman, who crossed into the country on March 17. He said they were arrested in Mathathane after which they arrested a man on March 27 at Moletemane who had also entered the country through an ungazetted point of entry.

Supt Gagogosha said police have observed that border jumpers entered the country through Limpopo River using walls meant to contain water.

He said the police, together with other security officers, were working round the clock to intensify border patrols, particularly that all the borders in the Bobirwa area had been closed due to the COVID-19 outbreak in neighbouring South Africa and Zimbabwe.

He thanked Moletemane and Mathathane communities for working closely with the police to arrest border jumpers, adding that it would prevent the transmission of coronavirus.

He also appealed to the Bobirwa community to continue helping the police to arrest border jumpers as they posed serious health risks to local communities.

Furthermore, he noted that the trio was handed over to health officials in Bobirwa where they were sent to a centre in Selebi Phikwe for a 14-day mandatory quarantine. ENDS