Central SA
Diesel thieves in Free State court alongside alleged kingpin─── LUCKY NKUYANE 11:25 Fri, 21 Oct 2022
Suspects who are linked to the theft of diesel from a Transnet pipe in the Free State will on Friday 21 October 2022 appear in the Vrede Magistrate’s Court, following the arrest of a suspected kingpin by the Hawks on Wednesday.
The 35-year-old man, who was set to appear in the Witbank Magistrate's Court on Thursday 20 October 2022, will also on Friday join his co-accomplices. In total, 49 suspects linked to the theft of diesel across the country have been arrested in the space of three months, with 210 arrested since 2019.
ALSO READ: Free State Hawks arrest alleged diesel theft kingpin
According to Hawks spokesperson, Philane Nkwalase, a search operation executed at the smallholding belonging to the 35-year-old alleged kingpin allegedly involved in the syndicate, resulted in the seizure of five luxury vehicles. He says other items that were seized, including five cell phones, documents, illegal firearms and ammunition and an undisclosed amount of cash. 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 15 October 2022 for the theft of fuel and tampering with Transnet's national pipeline at Vrede in the Free State. They were arrested when they delivered this stolen fuel in Kromdraai, Witbank.
“The alleged kingpin was expected to appear in the Witbank Magistrate's Court on Thursday 20 October 2022 and 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 added.
The suspect is expected to appear in the Vrede Magistrate's Court on Friday 21 October 2022, owing to the volume of work to make the docket court ready.
“Furthermore, a second tanker, which was allegedly seen on his premises over the weekend when his alleged accomplices were arrested, has now been linked to a new incident of damage to a Transnet pipeline in Silverton, Pretoria. The suspects fled the scene before arrest and the tanker was seized for further investigations.”
The Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation, or Hawks, in the Free State, has now been activated to begin their probe into the assets belonging to the alleged kingpin, suspected to be the proceeds of crime.
