SAPS and Sars officials conduct a successful sting operation to nab theives in KZN.
|||Fifteen people have been arrested for theft at a warehouse in Pietermaritzburg’s Winston Road.
Provincial police spokesman, Captain Thulani Zwane, said Pietermaritzburg SAPS crime intelligence and Sars conducted a joint operation at the warehouse where counterfeit Rizzler and ballpoint pens valued at R4 million were recovered.
Zwane said that because of the large quantities involved, the warehouse was quarantined, the entrance secured with Sars branded padlocks and two security guards were placed on guard on the site by the registered brand holders.
“The information was sourced out that there was a plan to break into the quarantined warehouse and steal the seized counterfeit goods,” he said.
Zwane said members of the SAPS organised crime unit, dog unit and Sars monitored the warehouse and 15 people aged 18 and 37 were nabbed in the act of loading the seized consignment into a truck.
“On-scene police investigations indicated that the suspects broke the Sars padlocks and entered the quarantined warehouse.
“The guards on duty were threatened and chased away by the suspects,” he said.
Zwane said the suspects were arrested and charged for housebreaking and theft. They appeared in the Pietermaritzburg Magistrate’s Court on December 15.
mpume.madlala@inl.co.za
