Beitbridge police seize two cars bound for Malawi, three accused in Musina court on theft and fraud charges
Suliman Carrim and two co-accused face motor vehicle theft, fraud and uttering charges after police intercepted the vehicles at the Beitbridge border post, with Carrim already in custody over a separate Commissions Act matter.
Two vehicles intercepted at the Beitbridge border post in Musina are at the centre of a criminal case now before the Musina Magistrates’ Court, where Suliman Carrim and two co-accused face charges of motor vehicle theft, fraud and uttering.
As SABC News reported on 22 October, the three appeared in connection with the interception. Police spokesperson Athlenda Mathe said preliminary investigations indicate the vehicles were being transported from Mahikeng in the North West to Malawi.
Carrim is already in custody awaiting bail judgment in a separate matter, where he faces charges of contravening the Commissions Act over a failure to appear before the Madlanga Commission.
The Beitbridge post is the country’s busiest land border crossing with Zimbabwe and a main artery for vehicles moving north through Limpopo. Vehicles flagged on the border approach are routinely referred to the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation and the National Prosecuting Authority, and cases of this kind turn on the chain of paperwork, from the registration and ownership records to the export documents produced at the gate.
Uttering, in South African criminal law, refers to the passing of a forged or altered document as genuine. It is commonly charged alongside fraud where vehicle identification numbers or registration papers are alleged to have been falsified.
What the court has before it at this stage is the state’s case as set out by a police spokesperson, and the accused have not been convicted on any of the charges. The matter returns to the Musina Magistrates’ Court, and the bail judgment in the separate Commissions Act matter is still pending.
