BMA seizes thousands of illegal goods and arrests 8,000 for border violations

South Africa’s Border Management Authority (BMA) has intercepted and destroyed 5,000 units of illicit birth control pills, 117 medical test kits, and various skin-lightening creams, BMA Commissioner Dr Michael Masiapato said on Sunday.

In a media briefing in Pretoria, Masiapato also announced that 8,000 people were arrested in the second quarter of the 2025-2026 financial year for attempting to enter the country illegally.

He said the majority were Basotho nationals, followed by Mozambicans and Zimbabweans.

Masiapato said the briefing was “held at a critical time when the nation is currently observing the 16 Days of Activism for No Violence Against Women and Children.”

“Therefore, as the BMA, we reaffirm our commitment to ensure the protection and seamless facilitation of the movement of women and all the vulnerable groups as and when they present themselves across any of our 71 ports of entry.”

The briefing also detailed festive season law enforcement operations and highlighted the movement of people and goods across South Africa’s ports of entry from July 1, to September 30, 2025.

“Further, this briefing is taking place just two weeks after the BMA successfully facilitated the seamless movement of more than 40 Heads of State, other government leaders, various delegates, technical teams and journalists who came to attend the G20 Leader’s Summit,” Masiapato said.

The G20 summit was held in late November in Johannesburg, Gauteng province.

He added, “This was the second-largest international event which the BMA had to facilitate since the BRICS summit which was held in August of 2023. These heightened movements remained instrumental in testing and strengthening our systems for high-impact and sophisticated high-security movements of dignitaries.”

Masiapato said the BMA’s second-quarter performance report for 2025 and 2026 showed that “in this second quarter of 2025 and 2026 financial year, the BMA achieved 11 of its 12 quarterly targets amounting to 92% achievement rate of targets as contained in its Annual Performance Plan despite its persisting challenges that has been widely articulated.”

This quarter, according to him, was characterized by heightened operational activities which were mainly driven by the number of preparatory meetings for the G20 Leaders’ Summit.

“Just in the quarter of three months, the BMA facilitated a number of dignitaries who came to attend more than forty (40) various G20 track meetings in various parts of the country.”

He said the Grobler's Bridge port of entry with Botswana facilitated a significant number of members of the Zion Christian Church (ZCC) who came to attend their September pilgrimage at the City of Moria in Limpopo Province.

“With all these activities, the BMA immigration officers processed a total of 9,283,658 travelers as they were entering and leaving South Africa in the second quarter of the financial year.”

“This represents an increase of about 23% of processed travelers compared to the same period in 2024 where only 7,576,650 movements were recorded,” he told the media.

“With the help of surveillance technology, mainly the drones, about 8,135 apprehensions were affected across the various ports of entry and the respective vulnerable segments, of which 4,092 were undocumented, 2,061 were inadmissible and 1,982 were undesirables.”

He said the majority of the intercepted foreign nationals were Basotho, followed by Mozambicans, Zimbabweans and Swati nationals.

According to him, this reflected a consistent long-standing migration pattern within the sub-region.

“Incrementally, the Border Guards has been able to stop about 505,065 individuals from entering the country illegally since the deployment of the first contingent in July 2022.”

He added that about 15 high-powered suspected stolen vehicles were intercepted as criminal syndicates attempted to smuggle them out of the country. 

“The vehicles were handed over to members of the SAPS for further processing.”

Regarding intercepted vehicles, Masiapato said, “The incremental figure stands at about 349 vehicles since the deployment of the first contingent in July of 2022.”

Further, in this quarter about 1,700 kg of counterfeit clothing and footwear estimated at R1,280,645 were intercepted at various ports of entry bringing the incremental value to about R220 million.”

“In this period, the officers intercepted half a kilogram of crystal meth, 240 grams of heroin, and illicit cigarettes to the value of R827,500,” Masiapato said.

He said that about 40 fraudulent travel documents were confiscated, mainly at OR Tambo, Cape Town, and Vioolsdrift ports of entry.

“During this quarter, about 172,858 travellers were screened for port health purposes and about 73 were refused entry for failing to produce the valid yellow fever vaccination certificate.”

“The port health team also processed about 997 mortal remains, of which 964 were being exported while 33 were imports. Unfortunately, about 25 mortal remains were returned due to failure to produce required documentation.”

He further said that about 43,729 health-related consignments were presented and processed into the country by our port health teams. 

“However, about 5,000 units of illicit birth control pills and 117 medical test kits were intercepted and destroyed, this includes some skin-lightening creams.”

“In this regard, the South African Health Products Regulatory Authority (SAHPRA) has warned that many of these products contain harmful and illegal ingredients, including high concentrations of mercury, hydroquinone, and tropical steroids, which pose a serious health risks such as skin damage, kidney complications, and long-term toxicity.”

He added that the port health team tested about 969 travellers for Malaria and about 57 were confirmed positive and got transferred to the nearest medical facility.

“In the Agricultural space, about 39,316 consignments were presented and processed into the country. At the same time, about 1,241 CITES consignments were presented and processed for entering the country in this second quarter.”

He said the BMA, in partnership with Transnet National Ports Authority (TNPA), secured operational space for the permanent deployment of the Coastal Guards at the ports of Mossel Bay, Gqeberha, Richards Bay, and East London. 

“This is a critical development towards establishing BMA’s full-time presence in these critical seaports,” he added.

simon.majadibodu@iol.co.za

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