Pretoria – The Mpumalanga Department of Education on Tuesday welcomed the arrest of a 38-year-old man who was found in possession of suspected stolen school property.
“In a statement issued by the police, it is said that the arrest of the suspect came after Sergeant Mduduzi Vincent Sibeko and Sergeant Tumelo Malope conducted stop-and-searches on the N17 in Bethal when they stopped and searched a taxi with occupants,” said Mpumalanga education spokesperson Jasper Zwane.
During the search, the police officers found a man with a black and grey backpack that contained four laptops and five chargers.
Upon further inspection, the alert police officers found a sticker inscribed with a laptop owner’s details. The owner was contacted by police and linked the laptop to a break-in.
“Members (police officers) discovered that one laptop had a sticker on it with contact details of the lawful owner and called for enquiries. The owner then confirmed that there was a break-in at Ntababomvu Primary School at Dundonald (Mpumalanga),” said Zwane.
“Thereafter, the police seized a black Packard Bell laptop, a black and grey HP laptop, a grey HP laptop and a black Toshiba laptop as well as two black Verbatim USBs (flash drives) containing the school subjects files from the suspect. The value of the stolen property is estimated at R30 000.”
The suspect was detained by Bethal police station officers.
Zwane said the Mpumalanga Department of Education believes the arrest “will send a clear message to all the criminals out there who are breaking into and vandalising schools that the long arm of the law is bound to catch them”.