South African authorities this Saturday quarantined buses arriving from Zimbabwe carrying more than 440 children for alleged human trafficking, the South African Border Management Authority (BMA) reported today.
“They managed to stop and search approximately 42 buses that were trying to enter South Africa, and we found on them approximately 443 children under the age of eight who were without a parent or guardian,” BMA Commissioner Michael Masiapato said at a press conference this Sunday. said. They gather the local media.
“They were supposedly being smuggled into South Africa illegally,” he emphasized, detailing that the vehicles were stopped at the Beitbridge border post last night.
“We managed to get them off those buses and talk to the Zimbabwean authorities and took them back to Zimbabwe,” he added, without giving further details.
According to Masiapato, this was a joint operation of the BMA, the Department of Home Affairs (the Ministry) and the South African Police.