Police in Mozambique have intercepted 87 people believed to be Malawians who were in a tanker on their way to South Africa.
Reports indicate that the group was being transported in a tanker owned by a well-known Malawian baseperson.
A video circulating on social media shows people getting out of the tanker after it was intercepted by Police in that country. A person narrates in the video that the people found in the tanker are Malawians.
In an audio clip, a driver who said he was at the scene narrated that the tanker was stopped by traffic Police just after Luwenya Bridge in Mozambique.
The police officer asked the driver to present a licence but after giving his licence to the police, the driver run into a nearby bush and this surprised the officer.
At this point, the people in the tanker started peeping out since the vehicle was not moving and it was hot inside the tanker. That was when the officer understood why the tanker driver escaped the scene.
“I was behind the truck driver and when the officer stopped me, he explained that the other driver escaped because he was trafficking people.
“The officer called his fellow officers and they helped the suspected Malawians to get out of the tanker,” said the narrator who said he got the figure 87 from the migrants themselves.
He added that the suspected Malawians have since been detained by Mozambique Police.
Immigration Department in Malawi is yet to comment on the reports.
The incident comes days after bodies of 29 migrants were found in mass graves in a forest in Mzimba. The migrants who are suspected to be Ethiopians are believed to have died in a van as they were being aided to travel to the border between Malawi and Mozambique on their way to South Africa.
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