Pretoria - Four people have been arrested in Nirvana, Limpopo, for possession of a truck-load of suspected stolen groceries and a hijacked truck, the South African Police Service (SAPS) said on Friday.
“The swift response by members of the South African Police Service in Westenburg outside the City of Polokwane, resulted in the arrest of four suspects aged between 27 and 33 yesterday [on Thursday] in Nirvana, for possession of suspected stolen properties and possession an alleged hijacked truck,” said provincial police spokesperson, Colonel Moatshe Ngoepe.
“This arrest was made after members attached to the crime prevention unit, reacted to information about the existence of stolen groceries at a supermarket in Nirvana and immediately operationalised it. Four suspects were arrested on the spot and a large amount of different assortment of groceries with the estimated value of over R100,000.
Some of the groceries were still inside the trailer, while another portion had been offloaded into the shop. At the supermarket, police only found the trailer loaded with groceries but the truck was not there.
“The preliminary police investigations established that a truck [horse and trailer] loaded with groceries, was allegedly hijacked in Gauteng, and the groceries were then allegedly delivered at the supermarket. The truck [the horse] with the estimated value of over R900,000 was later recovered in the Bela-Bela policing area without the trailer,” said Ngoepe.
Provincial police commissioner, Lieutenant General Nneke Ledwaba has commended the police officers for their swift action in apprehending the four.
The group is due to appear before the Polokwane Magistrate's Court on Monday.
The SAPS said more arrests are expected as a manhunt for the remaining suspects is still underway.
IOL