South African Police Services has intercepted 26 containers of chrome ore that had been stolen from a mine in Rustenburg and was about to be shipped out from Durban to China.
According to the SAPS the containers carried a total of 650 tonnes of the ore with a value of R7.8 million. After being smuggled from the mine the ore had been taken to a distribution depot in Johannesburg and packed into containers for shipment to China. No arrests have as yet been made.
In another swoop this time by members of the South African Revenue Service (SARS), 60 tonnes of clothing imported illegally from China and shipped via Botswana has been intercepted and impounded.
The clothing was being stored in a warehouse in Sasolburg and was intended for distribution to three of the country’s largest retail clothing outlets. SARS declined to give the value of the seized goods or the names of the retailers
In the past year SARS statistics indicate that R15.3 billion of textiles and clothing apparel was imported from China, whereas invoices reflected only R6.1bn, showing a shortfall of 60% on invoicing, which SARS says is indicative of massive and systematic fraud involving clothing imports from China by means of masking the original country of origin by relabeling and rerouting goods through a third country.
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