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Kinyarwanda
Police at the Rusizi border post in the Western Province apprehended a Range Rover Sport V8 that was being smuggled to DRC.
The officers and immigration officers intercepted the driver on February 2, after using an Interpol tool installed at every Rwandan border post, which revealed that the vehicle was on Red Notice after being stolen from the UK.
According to Superintendent Emmanuel Hitayezu, the Police Spokesperson for Western Province, the vehicle had been driven to Rwanda from Burundi by three suspected smugglers identified as Patrick Rurangirwa, Hughes Basabose and Paulin Bizimana, all Burundian nationals, who had sold the car to a Congolese identified as Bisimwa Byaduniya.
It is suspected that the three suspects had sold the car at a black market price of US$35, 000 with a down payment of US$25000, with a remaining installment of USD10, 000 set to be cleared at a later stage.
“The car was intercepted when the Congolese tried to clear the car as he was crossing from Rwanda to DRC. The clearing system recorded a “Red Alert” on the car, and indicated that the car was on the wanted list of missing vehicles by Interpol,” SP Hitayezu said.
“We immediately arrested him but he informed Police that he had bought it from three Burundian nationals, who were at the same time traveling back to Burundi. We contacted officers at the different border posts and provided them the suspects’ specifications. Fortunately, they were arrested from Ruhwa border post as they tried to make their way back to Burundi.”
The three Burundian suspects are currently held under Rwanda police custody at Kamembe Police Station, while the Congolese buyer was released, pending further investigations.
Using the Interpol tool known as I-24/7, which is installed at every Rwandan border post, Police managed to intercept five vehicles last year, as they were being smuggled through Rwanda as a transit.
