JOHANNESBURG-(MaraviPost)-South African police have stopped nine foreign nationals at the country’s busiest airport and at a hotel in Johannesburg, alleging they were about to leave the country to fight in the Russia-Ukraine war.
The suspects, aged between 20 and 26, were arrested on Sunday night. They are expected to appear before the Kempton Park Magistrates’ Court soon.
Police say the group was preparing to board flights out of South Africa when officers moved in.
The arrests were the result of an intelligence-led operation involving some of South Africa’s most senior investigative units.
The team included INTERPOL, the Hawks’ Crimes Against the State unit and its Serious Organised Crime Investigation unit based in Germiston, international law enforcement agencies, the South African Police Service (SAPS) Crime Intelligence, the Modus Operandi Centre, the Gauteng Provincial Tracking Team and private security companies.
Acting on intelligence gathered during the investigation, officers intercepted the suspects at OR Tambo International Airport and at a hotel in Bruma, east of Johannesburg.
The nine are expected to face charges under the Regulation of Foreign Military Assistance Act 15 of 1998.
That law makes it a crime in South Africa to provide military assistance to a foreign government, or to fight in a foreign army, without authorisation from the South African government. It was passed after apartheid to stop South Africa from exporting mercenaries. Violations can carry heavy fines and prison sentences of up to 25 years for the most serious offences.
The Acting Provincial Head of the Gauteng Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation, Brigadier Paulina Sekgobela, praised the multidisciplinary team for what she described as a coordinated and successful operation.
The Hawks said they remain committed to working with local and international law enforcement agencies to combat crime and ensure compliance with South African law.
The latest arrests fit into a much larger pattern that has alarmed governments across Africa for the past year.
South Africa has become a key transit point — and in some cases a recruitment ground — for young Africans allegedly being lured to Russia with promises of well-paid civilian jobs.
In November 2025, 17 South African men, aged between 20 and 39, sent distress calls from the Donbas region in eastern Ukraine. They said they had been promised bodyguard training and lucrative employment contracts, but instead found themselves on the frontline. Sixteen were from KwaZulu-Natal and one from the Eastern Cape.
President Cyril Ramaphosa ordered an investigation. After diplomatic engagement with Moscow, most of the men were repatriated in February 2026.
In a separate case, five people, including a well-known radio presenter, were arrested at OR Tambo between November and December 2025 as they allegedly attempted to travel to Russia via the United Arab Emirates. That case has been postponed to allow the state to obtain financial records and seek legal assistance from Russia.
In October 2026, six Zimbabwean men pleaded guilty in a South African court under the same 1998 Act. Prosecutors said four of them had been promised a 25,000 US dollar sign-on bonus and 2,500 US dollars a month to fight, while the other two acted as fixers arranging travel and liaising with a Russian recruitment agent. They had been arrested in July while allegedly travelling through South Africa to Russia.
Investigators say the method is now familiar. Recruiters do not fly people directly from their home countries to Moscow. Instead, they use fake job adverts for security guards, drivers, warehouse workers and technicians, posted on Facebook, Telegram and websites. Young people are told they will work in Russia, not fight. Once they arrive, investigators say, they are handed military contracts and sent to the frontline.
The Institute for Security Studies has identified 289 digital assets — websites, Facebook pages and Telegram channels — allegedly using forged endorsements and fake vacancies to lure Africans.
Ukrainian intelligence has claimed that more than 1,400 Africans from over 30 countries were fighting for Russia by late 2025. By February 2026, Ukraine’s foreign minister put the figure at more than 1,780 citizens from 36 African countries. By May, another Ukrainian official said nearly 2,965 Africans had fought or were fighting for Russia. Those are claims from a party to the war, and Russia denies illegally recruiting Africans. No independently verified continental total exists.
Kenya has confirmed more than 200 of its nationals are deployed alongside Russian forces. Other countries, including Ghana, Nigeria and Cameroon, have also reported cases.
For South Africa, the issue is both legal and humanitarian. The law is clear that fighting without authorisation is illegal. But families say their sons were deceived by promises of jobs in economies where youth unemployment is above 40 percent in some sectors.
The nine arrested on Sunday night have not yet been named, and their nationalities have not been disclosed. Police have not said which side of the war they were allegedly travelling to join, or whether they were recruits or recruiters.
What is clear is that OR Tambo has become a frontline in a different kind of war — a war over information, deception and young people desperate for work.
As the nine prepare to appear in court, investigators say the operation is not over.
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