South African man arrested for smuggling his girlfriend in a car trunk under lockdown

In what seemed to be a regular routine check at the Gauteng roadblock in South Africa, a woman was discovered in the car trunk of her boyfriend’s vehicle supposedly being “smuggled” to another district, Mpumalanga.

Some South Africans and as a matter of fact people all over the world are devising crafty ways to breach lockdown measures meant to protect the people from contracting COVID-19, as well as, mitigate its spread.

According to Faith Mazibuko, Gauteng Community’s Safety MEC, the man was stopped because he did not have a permit to commute between districts.

In a viral WhatsApp video, the police is heard laughing at the discovery in the trunk as the woman nervously gets out of the boot to wear her shoes, News24 reported.

They initially thought it was a case of human trafficking and said the driver must be arrested. However, according to Mazibuko, both the man and his girlfriend were arrested, after she admitted to giving consent to be “smuggled”.

Apparently, Mazibuko’s Twitter feed during South Africa’s national lockdown has been one to follow as she updates her followers with similar incidents from those adamant citizens, who want to thwart the lockdwon regulations.

The roadblocks on community, provincial and national roads were setup to help enforce the national lockdown that prohibits movement between provinces, metros, and district areas.

Those excluded from the movement restrictions are emergency service officials, healthcare workers service delivery personnel and the police. At the roadblocks everyone, who is permitted to cross, will be screened by health officials as the police conduct searches.

Only essential goods and cargo are permitted to undergo a cross-border trip. Mazibuko explained that alcoholic beverages are not considered essential and anyone caught transporting it will be arrested.

According to a local news outlet, a man was arrested with crates of beer in his car over the weekend in Mpumalanga by the police. Per the new amendment the man was in breach of the regulation, which states that, “the transportation of liquor is prohibited, except where alcohol is required for industries producing soap, hand sanitiser, industrial use, disinfectants and household cleaning products.”