The suspect was arrested by the Free State Hawks in Pretoria, Gauteng, on Wednesday 19 October 2022.

According to the Hawks’ Philani Nkwalase, the 35-year-old was arrested for alleged involvement in the syndicate linked to the theft of fuel and damage to essential infrastructure which forms part of a national key point. 

He was arrested by a multidisciplinary team, led by the Free State Hawks, or the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation, together with Bidvest Protea Coin Security, and the Gauteng Traffic Department Saturation Unit. 

Almost 8.5 million litres of fuel, valued at approximately R102 million, has been stolen from national Transnet pipes in the past year. Two suspects, aged between 35 and 41, were arrested on Saturday 16 October 2022 for theft of fuel and tempering with the Transnet national pipeline in Vrede, in the Free State, and were arrested on delivering the stolen fuel in Kromdraai, Witbank.

The alleged kingpin is expected to appear in the Witbank Magistrate's Court on Thursday 20 October 2022 and will later appear in Vrede, in the Phumelela Local Municipality, with other suspects. There are 46 suspects arrested in the past three months, owing to the multi-disciplinary approach operations which prove to have a working formula. Now with the additional three linked to this incident, we are sitting at a total of 49 suspects arrested in the country,” Nkwalase adds.

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