Mozambican National Sentenced To 10 Years After Bringing A Deadly Military Bomb Into South Africa

Antonio Charles Mugabe, a 26-year-old Mozambican national, admitted to smuggling a military-grade 60mm mortar bomb into South Africa through the Lebombo Port of Entry in Mpumalanga and was sentenced to 10 years of direct imprisonment by the Boschfontein Regional Court.

The conviction is the result of an event that occurred on August 23, 2026, when border authorities from the South African Revenue Service (SARS) and South African Police Service (SAPS) routinely physically screened and scanned the baggage of travellers entering Komatipoort from Mozambique. Mugabe was immediately arrested at the gate after border control officers noticed a high-density, suspicious object hidden inside his personal luggage. This prompted a rapid physical search that revealed the live military explosive device.

The Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (Hawks) Serious Organised Crime Unit in Nelspruit received the case after the arrest. Mugabe formally entered guilty pleas to three separate statutory charges—illegal possession of an explosive device, illegal transportation of an explosive, and illegal importation of explosives into the Republic of South Africa—after investigating officers moved the case from the local Komatipoort Magistrates’ Court to the Boschfontein Regional Court.

Major General Nico Gerber, the provincial head of the Mpumalanga Hawks, welcomed the ten-year prison term and praised the combined operational alertness of the SAPS and SARS officers stationed at the Lebombo post. Gerber underlined that a potentially disastrous threat to public safety and national security was successfully avoided by intercepting a high-yield military bomb before it could reach South African territory. The successful conviction, he said, demonstrates the Hawks’ continued dedication to stopping the unlawful trafficking of military munitions across regional ports of entry, maintaining border perimeters, and combating transnational criminal syndicates.

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