He is charged separately as he was found in possession of a firearm and explosives.

The court postponed the case to 28 March for further investigations.

"One accused was verified to be from Lesotho, one was from Mozambique, and twelve were from Zimbabwe. They are charged with violations of the Immigration Act as well as illegal mining. The state is not ruling out the possibility of adding more charges," says the regional spokesperson of the National Prosecuting Authority, Henry Mamothame. 

The Hawks followed up on information regarding the alleged illegal mining activities at Quest Mine, which is situated just off Buffeldoorn road. As a result, 15 alleged illegal miners were flushed out of the ground, leading to their arrest.

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The Hawks indicated that these elaborate illegal mining activities were allegedly operated through a heavy-duty industrial generator, while being supplemented by other smaller generators that were strategically located at multiple processing stations for gold-bearing material.

During the operation, two firearms were seized, as well as explosive cartridges, detonating cords, capped fuses, four generators, and illegal mining paraphernalia, which consisted of 23 buckets of gold-bearing material, electric mills, heavy-duty electrical equipment, water pumps and diesel. In addition, large amounts of food were also seized.

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According to the Hawks, these suspects were arrested during a multi-disciplinary operation by the Hawks’ serious organised crime investigation, assisted by the North West Airwing, explosives unit, cluster information management task team, public order policing, tactical response team, crime prevention unit, local criminal record centre and the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy.
 All suspects will remain in police custody until their next court appearance.

OFM News