NELSPRUIT – Five suspects, aged between 25 and 40 made their first appearance at the Bethal Magistrate’s Court today, Wednesday, 24 August 2022 following their arrest by the police from Bethal SAPS on Tuesday, 23 August 2022 on charges of being in possession of suspected stolen property.

Their arrest came after police received a tip-off about a suspicious excavator machine in the farm outside Bethal with 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 said farm premises and found them with the excavator as well as the truck which was alleged to have been organized to be used to transport it (excavator).

The police made their investigations and learned that the said machine was reported stolen at Mankweng in Limpopo Province earlier this month (August 2022).

The four suspects, Banele Mkhonza (25), Mduduzi Hadebe (32), Phumlani Nkosi (33), Themba Mtsweni (36) and Nsizwa Nxumalo(40) were then arrested by the men and women in Blue before they could have a chance to make their move. Later that day the police arrested the forth suspect who is alleged to be part of the group that was arrested. He too was charged with the rest. The suspects may be possibly be linked to the case of theft in Limpopo.

During their court, the matter was postponed to 30 August 2022 pending further investigation and for formal bail application.

The Provincial Commissioner of the SAPS in Mpumalanga, Lieutenant General Semakaleng Daphney Manamela has praised members of the public for the valuable information that they provided to the police and further thanked 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 hence the arrest is one of such” said the General.

Source: South African Police Service