Every day, a group of men in Fouriesburg in the Free State trek along the Caledon River and look out towards the magnificent Lesotho mountains. But theirs is not a trip to take in the splendour of the Mountain Kingdom \u2014 they are there to guard against crime.<\/p>\n
Preventing livestock theft is their primary goal, but they are also helping to foil the illegal crossing of stolen vehicles and flow of undocumented immigrants across the border.<\/p>\n
The Hawks led a sting operation in the area earlier this month, arresting farm owner Modiehi Mofokeng, 38. She briefly appeared at the Fouriesburg magistrate\u2019s court on Monday last week for allegedly setting up a \u201ctollgate\u201d at her farm, enabling vehicle thieves and illegal immigrants to cross the border for a fee.<\/p>\n
TimesLIVE visited the area to speak to people first-hand to understand why they want to come to SA, gauge the losses being sustained by farmers and see who profits from the illicit activities.
\n\u201cStock theft is a high priority crime in our area,\u201d said Riaan Corbett from the Farmers Union.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe border is not far away so when they steal, they cross through the river into Lesotho. It takes you a long time to get them back. A few cows can be a lot of money.\u201d<\/p>\n
At first, the Farmers Union in Fouriesburg installed cameras and patrolled across the area to combat livestock theft.<\/p>\n
Corbett said while he was a farmer, the daily patrols have become a way of life because they live adjacent to the border.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Every day, a group of men in Fouriesburg in the Free State trek along the Caledon River and look out towards the magnificent Lesotho mountains. But theirs is not a trip to take in the splendour of the Mountain Kingdom \u2014 they are there to guard against crime. Preventing livestock theft is their primary goal, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":87,"featured_media":847,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,3,7,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-846","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-community","category-head-lines","category-homepage-english"],"yoast_head":"\n