A 35-year-old alleged kingpin has been nabbed for alleged involvement in the syndicate linked to the theft of fuel and damage to essential infrastructure which forms part of the national key point.
He was arrested on Wednesday, 19 October 2022 in Pretoria by a multi-disciplinary team led by the Free State Hawks Serious Organised Crime Investigation team together with Bidvest Protea Coin Security, Gauteng Traffic Department Saturation Unit.
This follows a further investigation into the arrest of two suspects aged between 35 and 41 on Saturday, 16 October 2022 for theft of fuel and tampering with the Transnet national pipeline in Vrede, Free State and was arrested on delivering the stolen fuel in Kromdraai, Witbank.
The duo, Mauro Aurelia Langa (41 and Solly Khoza (35) appeared in the Vrede Magistrates’ Court yesterday and are expected to be back in court on 24 October 2022. They were arrested by a multi-disciplinary team comprised of the Hawks’ Non-Ferrous Metals, Tactical Operations Management Section with Secunda and Middelburg-based Serious Organised Crime Investigation assisted by Bidvest Protea Coin, Ekurhuleni District Operational Task Team, Badboyz Security and South African Revenue Services (SARS). Police seized the tanker with fuel which was involved in Saturday’s incident.
The alleged kingpin is expected to appear in the Witbank Magistrate’s Court tomorrow and will later appear in Vrede with other suspects.
It is now in the public domain that almost 8.5 million litres of fuel, valued at approximately R102 million, had been stolen from national Transnet pipes in the last year.
A total of 46 suspects were arrested in the last three months owing to the multi-disciplinary approach operations which prove to be a success. With the latest additional three arrests linked to this incident, a total 49 suspects have been arrested in the country.
Alleged kingpin arrested for damage to national pipeline essential infrastructure https://t.co/iCYXa3evXL#ArriveAlive #Kingpin #PipelineEssentialInfrastructure @SAPoliceService pic.twitter.com/3WVomw4xyw
— Arrive Alive (@_ArriveAlive) October 19, 2022
