The SAPS are gearing up to investigate the possibilities of more illegal military training bases across the country following a discovery of one at a farm outside White River in Mpumalanga on Friday.
Mpumalanga police raided the farm uncovering what seemed to be a secret military base training illegal Libyan nationals since April this year.
Mpumalanga police uncovered what seemed to be a military base that morning after a tip-off from community members of Masoyi village near the base.
According to provincial police spokesman Colonel Donald Mdhluli, they received intelligence about the activities on this farm.
The raid led to the detention of 95 Libyan nationals who were found to be training at the camp.
The suspects, who are also facing charges of being in the country illegally, will be appearing at Kabokweni magistrate court on Monday.
When the Independent Media Team arrived at the camp, which is well hidden from the public eye, there were military training equipment, tents where the suspects slept and a dining hall.
According to the villager the villagers nearby the arrested suspects used to visit the village for drinks and allegedly caused havoc among the members of the community who have laid a number of cases, although it’s not linked to them.
Addressing the media on Saturday, the police minister, flanked by his two deputies Cassel Mathale and Polly Boshielo said the police were looking into the possibilities of other camps of this kind.
“From where we are, investigations are continuing and we are not going to confine ourselves to what we have established now. We are going to expand our checks because this might be one at this point but if there is anything that we come across we will follow it. We are doing investigations,” he said.
Asked why it took four months for this to be discovered, Mchunu said officials were still investigating.
“When law officials came across information they started an investigation. Investigations of this nature can take a year, it can take four months. It can take whatever period that would be necessitated by the need to get facts before you act.
“In the main, we are here to address what might be anxiety in SA at the moment. The people that were involved here are in custody and we are going to continue with investigations,” he said.
He added that law enforcement agencies came across reports and investigations that sprung from a number of pointers that there were issues that required to be investigated.
“Reports came from various sources and were compiled. Further investigations and reaction was that the people who are in the spotlight of this needed to be arrested and they got arrested.
“What we have seen inside confirms what we have seen has been contained in the reports presented to us… These things point to a number of issues we are focussing on following the arrests.
He said the process of visa applications was violated and that would be finalised at some point.
“But while this facility here is legal in terms of Psira processes, on further scrutiny it was found that what is happening here is non-compliant with the application,” he said.
Pretoria News