Million rands bail for perlemoen smuggler

A Rustenburg magistrate has granted a man charged with perlemoen smuggling one million rands bail while his five co-accused have been remanded. Ran Wei and the other five were arrested on the 18th of this month. A spokesperson for the Scorpions, who made the arrests, says they had busted two of the biggest illegal perlemoen processing plants yet on two farms at Marikana near Rustenberg. Investigators confiscated more than 50-thousand wet and dry perlemoen on the farms. They also took possession of a firearm, two vehicles, and a large sum of cash. The vehicles and equipment is valued at some 900-thousand rands.