Ten people implicated in a dubious multimillion-rand toilet tender in the Eastern Cape were arrested in a dramatic predawn swoop across four provinces on Thursday.

The suspects, aged between 34 and 60, were rounded up by a multidisciplinary team, including police crime intelligence and detectives in the Eastern Cape, Gauteng, Mpumalanga and KwaZulu-Natal.

Hawks spokesperson Col Katlego Mogale said the operation followed a “complaint by the National Treasury, after it transpired that the suspects allegedly colluded in accessing the Amathole district municipality funds through flouting of procurement processes.

“Afterwards they were awarded a contract for ventilated improved toilets in the Eastern Cape. The Hawks’ preliminary investigation discovered that more than R600m was to be awarded for the contract, of which R286m has already be paid to the suspects,” said Mogale.