A Mozambican man appeared in a Middelburg court on an illegal firearm possession charge, with questions hanging about how he entered the country without a valid passport.
Mozambican man caught with hunting rifle failed to produce passport
On Monday, 11 March 2024, Elias Antonio Macie, 43, appeared before the Middelburg Magistrate’s Court, three days after he was taken into custody by SAPS’ Middelburg Flying Squad.
Macie, driving a white Ford Ranger with Gauteng registration plates, was stopped along the N4 Road, on Friday, 8 March 2024, at approximately 22:00, for a random search.
“It was during this period when they found a hunting rifle without ammunition inside the said vehicle,” Mpumalanga police spokesperson Colonel Donald Mdhluli noted in a statement.
Alarm bells rang off when, upon closer inspection, police found that the hunting rifle’s serial number had been scraped off. Macie tried to distance himself from the unloaded weapon, claiming it “belonged to his friend and he collected it in Nelspruit,” but police were not buying it.
“He was charged for possession of unlicensed firearm and the vehicle was also confiscated for further investigation,” Col. Mdhluli added.
The court further learned that the Department of Home Affairs has been reeled in to run checks on Macie’s immigration status since, during the stop and search, he could not produce a valid passport.
Hunting rifle to be tested for links to open cases
The confiscated rifle is set for ballistic testing to uncover any ties to active cases in Mpumalanga.
Macie will return to court on Monday, 18 March 2024, where his fitness to apply for bail will be tested. Prospects of a conditional release could look very different if it is determined that the 43-year-old gun-slinger entered South Africa illegally.
“Our main aim is to ensure that members of the public are safe and protected from crime. We therefore do everything in our power to achieve that. The proliferation of firearms remains our challenge but we are doing our utmost best to tackle this issue hence we make arrests of this nature. We hope members of the public can see our efforts,“ Provincial Commissioner Lieutenant General Semakaleng Daphney Manamela said.