International
One shot dead, 42 more arrested as police swoop on illegal miners that gang-raped eight models
• Two persons were shot dead, 80 arrested over same crime on Monday
South African police shot one person dead and arrested 42 Tuesday, adding to the two killed and 80 detained on Monday, after eight models shooting a music video near an abandoned gold mine were viciously gang-raped by illegal miners.
The shocking crime took place while the women were filming out in the wilds close to Krugersdorp, near Johannesburg on July 28.
The models and crew, the youngest of whom was 19 and the eldest 37, were raped up to ten times each over several hours by the criminals.
The gang also systematically robbed the crew and girls of their mobile phones, rings, jewellery, handbags, cash and cameras.
None of the more than 120 detainees has been directly tied to the heinous assaults, but Police Minister Bheki Cele said the crimes inspired police to ramp up a planned crackdown on general criminality in the area, including arms trafficking, illegal immigration and theft of valuable metals.
‘We need to find those people [the rapists], but this operation is not just to respond to that [incident],’ he said, admitting that his department still did not know who exactly was responsible for the sex crimes.
The incident has further blighted the declining reputation of a nation which is suffering from soaring crime rates and the third highest rate of rape in the world.
More than 300 demonstrators, the majority of whom were women, were pictured marching outside the Krugersdorp courtroom yesterday evening carrying placards decrying the shocking crimes and the startling frequency of sexual violence in South Africa.
‘We are going to demand that the police station should be placed under administration because the community has reported many crimes committed by the (criminals) but nothing has been done,’ said Zandile Dabula, secretary-general of Operation Dudula, an organisation that protests against illegal immigrants in South Africa.
The organisation was part of the Monday protest outside the courthouse.
‘It is clear that they are failing to deal with crime in this area so they should be placed under administration,’ said Ms Dabula.
Women protest outside the Krugersdorp, South Africa, Magistrates Court Monday, Aug. 1, 2022
Scores of demonstrators, the majority of whom were women, were pictured marching outside the Krugersdorp courtroom yesterday evening carrying placards decrying the shocking crimes
The man killed by police this morning was shot at a disused mine in Luipaardsvlei, roughly 6 miles from a camp where many of the illegal miners – known locally as ‘zama zamas’ – are thought to be based.
Police said they spotted the man and an accomplice carrying a rifle and pistol, and shot one of them when they went to draw their weapons. The other suspect was arrested.
The miners, who have populated disused mines in the area and many of whom are believed to be illegal immigrants, are blamed for stealing precious metals and various other crimes but the shocking gang rape of the contingent of models last week gave police the impetus to launch a major operation against them.
Police Minister Bheki Cele confirmed that police were investigating 32 counts of rape
‘What happened in Krugersdorp is just a shame of the nation,’ Cele told a press briefing on Sunday, adding some of the victims would suffer long-term consequences.
‘Some of those destructions are permanent with those kids.’
The latest arrests and the death of one suspected illegal miner today comes after more than 80 were rounded up and hauled into court yesterday, while two more were shot and killed by armed officers.
National police chief Fannie Masemola and Cele confirmed that DNA samples from the raped women will be used to identify the perpetrators.
Those who are ultimately absolved of responsibility for the sex crimes are expected to face additional charges of illegal immigration and illegal mining.
Eight models were gang raped at gunpoint by an armed gang as they shot a gospel music video near an illegal gold mine in South Africa last week
The shocking crime took place while the a production team were filming out in the wilds near West Village, Krugersdorp, near Johannesburg on July 28
The girls tried to run when attackers burst out of the bush wearing balaclavas and Basotho blankets, but the gang fired a volley of gunshots at them.
The models and production crew were ordered to lay down at gunpoint before more assailants appeared from the scrub.
The gang took the models one at a time into the bush and raped them up to ten times each, while also relieving them of their personal property including phones, cash, wallets, purses, cameras and other valuables.
A 19-year-old victim said she lied to her attacker that she had suffered a miscarriage to be saved from being raped further, according to a Sunday Times South Africa report.
‘I had no way out but to lie, because they were picking us up one by one. There were others who were raped by six to 10 men,’ she said.
Her 21-year-old sister, who was raped in a ditch, said the girls’ ordeal lasted four hours.
The woman who had organised the models for the shoot said that she tried to protect them from the rapists and she was violated first.
The gang rape has shocked a nation which already has some of the highest crime rates and the third highest rate of rape in the world
‘They kept telling the younger boys to rape us and they’d hit them and force them to do so,’ she said.
President Cyril Ramaphosa yesterday said the ‘horrible acts of brutality are an affront to the right of women and girls to live and work in freedom and safety’, declaring that ‘rapists have no place in our society’.
Questions still remain about the incident, with a source telling the Sunday Times that police did not believe the crew and models were there to make a music video as has been reported.
The zama zamas are known for illegally venturing into old, closed-down mines where they burrow into the rock to try gold ore and other precious metals.
Many die when long-disused tunnels collapse, and others who strike gold are often murdered by jealous rivals.
A resident of Krugersdorp speaking on condition of anonymity told News 24 that news of the sexual violence last week came as no surprise.
She said: ‘[Zama zamas] have long terrorised residents and we hear gunshots at night. It’s not something new. It is an old and ongoing problem that petrifies us all.
‘Women have previously been raped and dragged into the bush. The zama zamas are an old problem, but now we’re at a place where it’s destructive and dangerous.’
South Africa has the third highest crime rate in the world, according to World Population Review, having ‘notably high rates of assaults, rape, homicides, and other violent crimes.’ (Daily Mail)
There are grave fears for the passengers of a private plane that suddenly vanished mid-flight, sparking a major search off the coast of the US.
US authorities say the Gulfstream G100 lost contact with air traffic control about 2am local time on Saturday (4pm Saturday AET) while flying from L.F. Wade International Airport in Bermuda to Boston Logan International Airport.
The US Coast Guard said the Federal Aviation Administration alerted it after contact was lost with the aircraft – which plummeted from 23,500 feet to 11,000 feet in just three minutes, according to FlightAware data.
“We are praying for a safe outcome,” a spokesperson for Latitude Air Ambulance, which operates the missing plane, told City News.
A search is now under way off Nantucket in the air and on water as crews work to locate the missing jet, the Coast Guard said. Data from FlightRadar24 showed a number of aircraft searching south of the island.
Six people are missing after a private jet vanished, sparking a major search off the coast of Nantucket in the US.
The plane was en route from Bermuda to Boston when it vanished.
“Air & surface crews have launched in search of the aircraft. Updates will be provided here as info becomes available,” the Coast Guard Northeast District said on X.
The plane was carrying out a medical evacuation in Bermuda – a British overseas territory in the north Atlantic Ocean, according to Clarence Togeretz, Director of Flight Operations at Latitude Air Ambulance.
“We always get rather concerned when our crew doesn’t report to us in a timely manner,” he told NBC News.
“But I will say that again, optimistically and positively, that doesn’t mean that the worst has happened.”
Seventeen people were killed when eight gunmen stormed a bar close to Johannesburg on Saturday evening, with 15 more injured.
In a separate shooting in the early hours of Sunday morning, 10 people were killed outside an entertainment venue in a township near Cape Town and a further 11 were injured.
South Africa has one of the highest murder rates in the world and has struggled to contain gang-related gun violence in recent years. Police have not indicated a motive for either of the latest attacks.
In Johannesburg, gunmen opened fire on customers outside the bar before continuing the attack inside and torching two vehicles before fleeing.
Police said thirteen men and four women were killed.
Deputy provincial police commissioner Maj Gen Fred Kekana said the attack may have been a retaliation for an incident last month, in which one person was killed and another wounded, according to AFP news agency.
Speaking at the scene, he said police had clear pictures and in some cases names for the suspects.
In Cape Town, five victims died at the scene and a further five people died in hospital.
No arrests had been made in either case on Sunday morning.
The two mass shootings came days after 11 people were killed in the city of Duban when gunmen stormed a house in the KwaMakhutha township.
Illegal weapons are prevalent in South Africa and gun violence has been a persistent problem for decades, with about 60 murders recorded every day in the country of 62 million.
But a recent spate of mass shootings has raised fears that the problem is deepening, with violence often linked to turf wars between gangs engaged in drug trafficking and illegal mining.
In February, President Cyril Ramaphosa called organised crime “the most immediate threat to our democracy, our society and our economic development”.
Earlier this year the military was deployed alongside police in areas with the highest murder rates in an effort to reduce armed violence.
On Saturday a tenth woman’s body was found in Ekurhuleni, to the east of Johannesburg, with local police saying they were unable to rule out a serial killer operating in the area with similarities between the deaths. (BBC)
The United States has deported more than 25,000 people under secretive agreements with 35 countries to take migrants with no ties to those nations, according to an investigation published Monday.
Since US President Donald Trump took office in January 2025, Washington has been signing deals with developing countries to take migrants who cannot legally be sent home.
The investigation by Forbidden Stories found the administration has earmarked $410 million to be paid directly to the receiving countries, or to UN agencies to facilitate the returns.
At least 25,447 people had already been deported to third countries by August 31, 2026, according to data compiled by Forbidden Stories with a consortium of international journalists.
The vast majority — around 20,000 — were sent to Mexico, but the rest were dispersed to 27 other countries across Latin America, Africa, and the Pacific, and agreements have been finalised with seven more.
The deals vary, including over which nationalities can be deported and whether people with criminal records can be accepted.
An AFP investigation earlier this year found Washington is using visa bans and restrictions on African countries to strongarm them into accepting deportees.
Lawyers told AFP that deportees were being thrown into a “legal black hole”, held without charge in countries where they have no ties and few if any rights.
Forbidden Stories said 49 of Africa’s 54 countries had been approached about accepting third-country deportees.
A little-known State Department division called the Office of Remigration, created in May 2025, has handled most of the negotiations and payments, according to Forbidden Stories.
The office is headed by Christian Jove Ehrhardt, a 41-year-old diplomat who previously worked as a security officer.
The report details his visits to Cameroon, which signed a memorandum of understanding with the US in December on accepting deportees. A week later, it also signed a five-year health assistance programme worth nearly $400 million.
The following month, the State Department said it would provide a further $30 million to the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) in Cameroon to “facilitate the voluntary return of refugees and combat illegal immigration.”
The first plane carrying deportees arrived in Cameroon on January 14.
– Payments –
Other agreements have involved direct payments to governments.
Palau, a small Pacific island nation with a population of under 18,000, signed an agreement in December 2025 to accept up to 75 third-country nationals in return for $7.5 million.
However, only three people have so far been sent under the agreement.
In Eswatini, 32 people have arrived since July 2025 out of a possible 160 under an agreement worth more than $5 million. It has accepted deportees with criminal records, the investigation found.
Of the $410 million planned for the agreements, internal State Department records showed that $81 million was earmarked for signatory governments.
The rest was intended for aid organisations, including more than $178 million for the UN’s International Organisation for Migration, and $123 million for UNHCR.
The agencies have faced criticism over their involvement, although UNHCR told Forbidden Stories that it was not party to the bilateral agreements and that US funding was being used in line with its mandate to strengthen asylum systems.
An IOM spokesperson told Forbidden Stories that the agency’s decisions to accept funding rested “on a single question: whether our engagement will improve the lives of the migrants affected. In these instances, we believe strongly it does.”
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