Ten people, including a civil servant and an ex-policeman, were arrested on Tuesday for allegedly defrauding the KwaZulu-Natal social development department of millions of rands in pension money, a spokesperson said.

"The suspects have been allegedly acting as agents, recruiting people to apply for pensions fraudulently. These agents are reported to be working with some officials within the department," said Mandla Ngema.

Ngema said one of the culprits had over the past 12 months allegedly defrauded the department of R1.6-million.

The 10 were arrested at Izingolweni. Last week police arrested 15 people in the same area for fraud and corruption. This brought the number of arrests to 25 in that area alone.

"The department would like to applaud the police for the work they have done to arrest the suspects, who are also reportedly involved in other fraud and corruption cases not yet finalised," said Ngema.

The arrested would appear in the Izingolweni Magistrate's Court on Wednesday.