A 63 year old South African national has been jailed seven years in Zimbabwe over stolen vehicle smuggling charges.
Willem Schalk Janzen-Roet was arrested in November last year at Victoria Falls border post trying to smuggle a stolen Landrover Range Rover into Zambia.
The vehicle, valued at $125 000, was reportedly stolen in South Africa.
Janzen-Roet will however spend five years in prison after Hwange magistrate, Collet Ncube suspended two years of his sentence on condition of the South African’s old age.
Several Zimbabweans and other nationals have been nabbed for trying to smuggle cars stolen in South Africa through the southern African nation into Zambia, Malawi, Mozambique and other regional countries.
Janzen-Roet is believed to be part of a vehicle trafficking syndicate which uses Zimbabwe as a transit point to transport luxurious cars from South Africa for resale into other countries.
In his judgment, magistrate Ncube said Janzen-Roet deserved a lengthy jail term to deter vehicle trafficking syndicates which are using Zimbabwe as a transit point.
Reports say the vehicle trafficking syndicates smuggle the stolen cars through the Limpopo River where donkeys are used to pull the vehicle across the river into Zimbabwe.
Late last year, a vehicle stolen in Durban was recovered by Limpopo police when thieves attempting to smuggle the vehicle into Zimbabwe tried to use donkeys to pull it across the swollen Limpopo River.
The vehicle‚ which was semi-submerged in the water‚ was spotted from a helicopter during an operation against vehicle trafficking
