POLOKWANE – The Limpopo Hawks have arrested a 27-year-old man in Groblersdal in connection with a multi-million rand vehicle fraud case dating back to April 2023.

According to the Hawks’ provincial spokesperson Warrant Officer Lethunya Mmuroa , the arrest was made on Saturday (July 26) by members of the Hawks’ Serious Commercial Crime Investigation Unit (SCCI), the Hawks’ Serious Corruption Investigation Unit and the Sekhukhune Tracing Team.

Mmuroa said the suspect allegedly applied for vehicle finance through WesBank using forged documents, including a bank statement and a payslip, as requested.

The application was approved and the suspect, accompanied by two men, collected a Ford Ranger Raptor valued at over R1.3m from a dealership in Polokwane.

“The accused failed to make payments and the bank tried to contact him without success. WesBank conducted a forensic audit and noticed that the accused used fraudulent documents during his application. The matter was reported to the SCCI in Polokwane for assistance,” his statement read.

Mmuroa said an investigation led to the arrest of the first accused on January 2, 2024, while further investigations revealed the 27-year-old suspect assisted in orchestrating the fraud and helped collect the vehicle from the dealership.

“The suspect appeared before the Specialised Commercial Crimes Court in Polokwane today.”

The provincial Hawks head Major General (Adv) Gopz Govender welcomed the arrest of the suspect and is confident that the SCCI team will crack the case.