Man tries to smuggle girlfriend in car trunk during lockdown in South Africa

A man in South Africa has been arrested for attempting to smuggle his girlfriend from one province to another in the trunk of his car while defying the coronavirus lockdown regulations.

Officials noted that the woman “consented to be smuggled” and was also arrested.

The man was stopped by police at a roadblock on Friday night when he was traveling from Gauteng, South Africa’s most populous province which includes the nation’s largest city, Johannesburg, and which in turn has the largest number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 coronavirus.

The man was trying to take his girlfriend to the neighboring Mpumalanga province, said Faith Mazibuko, the official in charge of community safety in Gauteng.

The moment when police found the woman in the trunk was caught on video and released by a South African media outlet. The woman, wearing jeans and a T-shirt, could be observed lying in the trunk after police officers opened it.

One officer asked her: “Are you OK?”

The woman then steps out the trunk with what seems to be her handbag in one hand and puts on her shoes.

South Africa has been in lockdown since March 27 to fight the spread of the virus and people are only permitted to leave their homes to buy food, medical supplies and other essentials, or if their job is categorized as essential.

Moving between cities and provinces is not allowed by the lockdown restrictions of the country except for a small number of reasons, such as attending a funeral, for which travel permits has to be obtained.

About 3,300 people in South Africa have been confirmed as being infected with the coronavirus. The virus has killed 58 people in the country.