Cops bust fake 'home affairs office' where unsuspecting SA women are 'married off' to foreigners

Durban police have uncovered a fake home affairs office in which three suspects used to marry off SA women to undocumented immigrants.

The discovery was made on Monday at a building on Matthews Meyiwa Road in Durban, KZN.

A team of Metro Police Tactical Support Unit, Sydenham Trio Task Team, and home affairs immigration officers seized several application forms, copies of identity documents, and electronic devices.

Police spokesperson Col Robert Netshiunda said they have arrested three suspects and cannot rule out the possibility of arresting more suspects.

“The suspects would get hold of identity documents of South African women and marry them to strangers, especially undocumented foreign nationals so that the fake husbands would attain South African citizenship,” he said.

Netshiunda added, “Preliminary investigations have thus far identified a home affairs official who has been working in cahoots with the suspects”.

Of the three suspects, two men will be charged with fraud, and the woman will face a charge of defeating the ends of justice after she attempted to conceal evidence by tearing some of the documents and throwing them inside a bin.

The suspects are expected to appear in the Durban magistrate's court on Wednesday.

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