Durban — Property belonging to the eThekwini Municipality was intercepted in Kosi Bay Border, resulting in the arrest of two suspects at the weekend.
The incident happened on Saturday, November 11, when Hawks members from the Richards Bay Serious Organised Crime Investigation unit working together with Kosi Bay Border Management Authority (BMA) arrested the two suspects aged 31 and 44 for possession of property suspected of being stolen.
Hawks KwaZulu-Natal spokesperson Lieutenant-Colonel Simphiwe Mhlongo said members were conducting a joint operation with BMA at Kosi Bay Port of Entry when they stopped a vehicle pulling a trailer. The vehicle was coming from South Africa to Mozambique.
“A search was conducted and 52 LED street lights engraved as property of the eThekwini Municipality were found. The suspects could not give a reasonable explanation on how they obtained the municipal property,” Mhlongo said.
“An eThekwini Municipality official was summoned to the crime scene and he positively identified the street lights as the property of the municipality.”
The suspects were arrested and charged for being in possession of suspected stolen property as well as tampering with essential infrastructure.
“The value of the seized street lights is estimated at R1 820 000,” Mhlongo said.
“The arrested suspects are due to appear in the Manguzi Magistrate’s Court on Monday, November 13.”
In a recent response to a parliamentary written question, Minister of Home Affairs Dr Aaron Motsoaledi revealed that since July last year, the BMA had deployed 33 trained border guards attached to the Kosi Bay port of entry responsible for the management of the legitimate movement of people and goods.
He explained that to curb crime, the border guards execute their border functions in that border environment in collaboration with other security structures that include the SANDF (borderline) and the SAPS in the declared ports of entry.
Daily News