Police raid Durban business facilitating fake marriages for citizenship
Police have
just walked out of a Durban building with three handcuffed suspects who were
allegedly running a clandestine Home Affairs office.
Officials this afternoon raided the Berea building from where they were operating.
Inside the first-floor office on Mathews Meyiwa Road, officers searched documents, some of which had been torn up allegedly by an employee when police entered.
The suspects were allegedly using the office to illegally marry South African women to undocumented foreign nationals to grant them citizenship.
KZN SAPS say that after receiving intelligence, they sent in one of their own undercover agents to pretend to want to get married.
Three of the suspects that were walked out a short while ago are facing charges of fraud and defeating the ends of justice.
KZN Police spokesperson, Robert Netshiunda says documentation inside the premises shows that they were charging people around R18 000 for services.
They would allegedly obtain ID documents for South African women illegally and then facilitate a marriage.
Most of the people involved are not in the country and would apparently be given spousal visas, which they would use to enter South Africa.
The operation was carried out by the Hawks Provincial Tracking Team, PMB K-9 Unit, eThekwini Metro's Tactical Support Unit, eThekwini SAPS Cluster Crime Intelligence and Immigration officials.
Three suspects have been arrested for allegedly running a Clandestine Home Affairs office in Berea. @SAPoliceService says documentation inside the premises shows that they were charging people around R18 000 for services.
— Nushera Soodyal (@nushera) October 28, 2024
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