Zimbabwean police, with the help of an alert bus team, have nabbed 44 illegal Somali and Ethiopian immigrants who are believed to have been on their way to South Africa, the State media reported on Monday.

The arrest of the immigrants counts as probably the biggest such single catch on illegal immigrants in Zimbabwe in decades, and also points to the increasing use by Africans in other regions in the continent of Zimbabwe as a transit route for illegal entry into South Africa, the Herald reported.

It quoted provincial police spokesperson Inspector Clemence Mabgweazara as saying the arrests were made early this month at a police station near the northern border between Zimbabwe and Zambia after the group entered Zimbabwe through an undesignated point in Kariba.

Upon entering Zimbabwe, the 23 Somalis and 21 Ethiopians boarded a local bus at Nyamupanga School that was headed for the capital Harare.

It is believed the immigrants were to proceed to Beitbridge and then cross into South Africa.

However, the bus driver smelled a rat when the immigrants instructed him to trail behind a particular vehicle.

"The driver was a quick thinker and he instead diverted the bus and went to Nyamapanga Police Post. They (bus crew) told police they suspected something fishy was going on," Insp Mabgweazara from Mashonaland West province told the daily paper.

He said after investigations, police discovered that the 44 did not have proper documents and arrested them. They are currently being screened before they are sent to refugee holding centers in the country, police said.

By Staff reporter and agencies