Hawks arrest final suspect in passport fraud ring that put foreign faces on South African passports

A 41-year-old man arrested in Tubatse, Limpopo, will appear in the Protea Glen Magistrate’s Court this week on charges including fraud, corruption, violation of the Immigration Act and racketeering, the Hawks’ East Serious Organised Crime Investigation unit said.

The Hawks describe him as the final outstanding suspect linked to Project Humulani, the undercover operation against a multimillion-rand passport fraud, corruption and human smuggling syndicate. The operation was registered in April 2022 after intelligence gathered in December 2021 on a syndicate working at the borders.

At the centre of the case is what the Hawks call photo-swapping. In its account, a foreign national kingpin worked with corrupt Home Affairs officials and vulnerable South African citizens. The syndicate took the valid identity details of South African citizens and substituted the photographs with those of foreign nationals, and passports were then issued in those South African names.

The kingpin has already been convicted and sentenced to 14 years of direct imprisonment. Several hundred fraudulently issued passports have been blocked and cancelled by the authorities, according to the Hawks.

The investigation was led by the Hawks’ East Rand Serious Organised Crime Investigation unit, working with the Department of Home Affairs, the Asset Forfeiture Unit and the Director of Public Prosecutions.

Brigadier Paulina Sekgobela, Acting Provincial Head for the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation, commended the investigation team for what the Hawks described as its excellent work and dedication to the case.

The account is carried in a summary published by SAnews, the South African Government News Agency (https://www.sanews.gov.za/south-africa/suspect-appear-protea-glen-magistrates-court-fraud-corruption), rather than in the court record itself. The charges against the 41-year-old have not been tested in court.