Durban: Two people have been arrested after 39 people were rescued from an alleged human trafficking circle in Mpumalanga.
Police said the victims comprised seven women, nine children under the age of 5 and 23 men all over the age of 18.
According to police spokesperson Colonel Katlego Mogale, they were rescued from a farm in Belfast during a multidisciplinary operation by members of Nelspruit Serious Organised Crime, the Flying Squad, and the departments of Labour and Home Affairs.
“It is alleged the modus operandi entailed the the victims being brought into South Africa from Mozambique in a taxi. In Lydenburg, the farm owner’s son and one trafficker will meet the taxi driver and pay him. The victims will then be brought on the farm for labour.”
Mogale said the rescued victims would be kept at a place of safety in Witbank.
Police said the suspects would line up in the Belfast Magistrate’s Court on Monday facing trafficking of humans charge.
“More arrests are expected,” concluded Mogale.
IOL