Suspect from Home Affairs passport fraud syndicate arrested

The final suspect in a multimillion-rand passport fraud, corruption and human smuggling syndicate was arrested on Friday.

The 41-year-old was nabbed by the Hawks in Limpopo. He is facing charges of fraud, corruption, violations of the Immigration Act and racketeering.

Passport fraud syndicate

The Hawks operation was linked to Project Humulani, which has been running since April 2022. It was formed after intelligence was gathered about a syndicate operating at South Africa’s borders.

The syndicate used “photo swapping” to commit the passport fraud. This allegedly involved using the identity details of South African citizens and replacing their photographs with those of foreign nationals.

The arrest comes after two Home Affairs officials accused of being involved in the syndicate were granted bail on Tuesday. David Motsamai and Lufu Mulaudzi appeared before the Germiston Magistrate’s Court and are accused of selling South African passports to foreign nationals for up to R100 000.

Previous successes of investigation

The Hawks said the Project Humulani investigation was done with the assistance of the Department of Home Affairs, the Asset Forfeiture Unit (AFU), and the Director of Public Prosecutions. In 2022, it arrested the kingpin, a Pakistani national who was working with corrupt Home Affairs officials to issue fraudulent South African passports.

It said the syndicate kingpin was previously convicted and sentenced to 14 years in prison. In addition, three Toyota Fortuner SUVs that were used by the syndicate were seized, while hundreds of fraudulent passports were blocked and cancelled.

After the kingpin was arrested, four Home Affairs officials based in Krugersdorp were suspended in June 2022.

The syndicate is thought to have operated in Gauteng, Mpumalanga, Limpopo, Western Cape, Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal.