By News24.com

A 45-year-old truck driver who was arrested for possession of illicit cigarettes worth R1.5 million has been released on bail.

According to North West police spokesperson Brigadier Sabata Mokgwabone, Tawanda Maxwell Tavuya was arrested at the Skilpadshek port of entry between South Africa and Botswana on Monday evening.

It is alleged that the cigarettes were en route to South Africa from Zimbabwe, via Botswana.

They were allegedly hidden inside false compartments.

Tavuya briefly appeared in the Lehurutshe Magistrate’s Court on Thursday where he was granted R4 000 bail.