Five appear in Bethal Magistrate’s Court for possession of suspected stolen property worth R9m
According to the police, the machine was reported stolen at Mankweng in Limpopo earlier this month.
Bethal Police arrested five suspects for being in possession of suspected stolen property, namely an excavator machine, on Tuesday, August 23.
The suspects (aged between 25 and 40) appeared in the Bethal Magistrate’s Court on Wednesday, August 24.
Lieut-Gen Smakaleng Manamela, police commissioner in Mpumalanga, said in a media statement that the arrest came after the police received a tip-off about a suspicious excavator machine on a farm outside Bethal with some suspects who were about to load it into a truck.
The members responded swiftly to the information and on arrival at the scene, they cornered four suspects at the farm with the excavator and a truck that had been organised to transport it.
According to the police, the machine was reported stolen at Mankweng in Limpopo earlier this month.
Later that day, the police arrested a fifth suspect who is allegedly part of the group that was arrested. He too was charged. The suspects may possibly be linked to a case of theft in Limpopo.
The case against Banele Mkhonza (25), Mduduzi Hadebe (32), Phumlani Nkosi (33), Themba Mtsweni (36) and Nsizwa Nxumalo (40) was postponed to August 30, pending further investigation and for formal bail application.
Lieut-Gen Manamela has praised members of the public for the valuable information that they provided to the police.
She also thanked the police members for their swift response which resulted in the arrest, as well as the recovery of the excavator machine.
“Property-related crimes are some of the priorities in our day-to-day policing and we believe that we are making a notable mark in addressing this challenge. The arrest is one of such,” said the General.
