Johannesburg -
He is accused of hiring vehicles from car rental companies at OR Tambo International Airport under false pretences, then fitting them with false number plates and licence discs and selling the new models for just R20 000.
Prince Maluleke, of New Eesterus near Hammanskraal, appeared in the Kempton Park Magistrate’s Court on Friday on charges of theft of a motor vehicle.
It is alleged that in early March, the unemployed Maluleke went to the car rental company and provided the staff with a false address to rent a vehicle for eight days.
When the company realised the return date had lapsed, it alerted the police.
Police set up an intelligence-driven operation involving members of the OR Tambo task team and the crime intelligence head office.
This week, they recovered the white Toyota Corolla, with false number plates and a licence disc, from a parking lot in Pretoria.
Maluleke was arrested on the same day.
Further police investigations revealed the vehicle registration plates and the licence disc on the Corolla were those of a silver BMW.
Maluleke is said to have sold the BMW for a purported R20 000 to a Midrand man.
Investigations led to evidence suggesting Maluleke had sold vehicles from another car rental company at the airport to people in Rustenburg.
“We’re profiling him now and speaking to other car rental companies to check if he also did this to them,” said Colonel Vishnu Naidoo, national police spokesman.
Saturday Star