Zimbabwean police are trying to find a 13-year-old Bulawayo girl who allegedly asked a bus crew to transport a bucket containing explosives, which were hidden in a bucket full of wild fruit, to South Africa.

However, the bus crew got suspicious on Saturday and opened the bucket with Nyii fruit (from the red ivorywood tree), finding explosives hidden under it, a news website reported.

The teen, who said she had been sent by her landlord, disappeared before the bus crew could obtain more details.

National police spokesperson Paul Nyathi said police in Bulawayo were investigating and hope the girl can provide more information on who had given her the bucket.

“An unknown female juvenile approximately aged 13 tried to send an unlabelled parcel to an unknown recipient in South Africa on June 26, 2021.

’’The crew tried to question the juvenile, who stated that she had been sent by her landlord and disappeared before her particulars were recorded,” he said.

Attempts to smuggle explosives through the Beitbridge crossing between South Africa and Zimbabwe is a common occurrence.

The explosives are often used in crimes, including ATM blasts, cash-in-transit heists and illegal mining.

In January, Mercy Rifundo, 42, a mother of four from Zimbabwe, who farmed beans and occasionally travelled to Johannesburg to sell her produce, was sentenced to 15 years’ jail by the Musina Regional Court.

She was also fined R20 000 for contravening the Immigration Act after it was found she had illegally entered the country.

In August 2020, Rifundo was on her way from Zimbabwe to South Africa when the taxi she was travelling in was stopped and searched by the Beitbridge border police, after a boy had helped carry her bags over the border.

Upon searching her bag, the police found 590 units of blasting cartridges to the value of R168 000. Apparently, she had been under the impression she was also transporting floor polish in her luggage on behalf of people who knew her landlord in Johannesburg.

Last November, a 27-year-old man was arrested at the Beitbridge border post for allegedly trying to smuggle explosives into the country.

The man was driving a truck and stopped at the border post when police officers and members of the Musina Bomb Disposal Unit found 115 units of blasting cartridges and 100 units of explosives’ accessories in the vehicle.