There is never a dull moment in Mzansi. The country went from the arrest of illegal mining kingpins in the past few weeks and now petrol thugs have been caught by the police. According to the Hawks' Colonel Nkwalase the alleged kingpin is expected to appear at the Witbank Magistrates Court tomorrow and will later appear in Vrede with other suspects. 

THEFT OF FUEL AND DAMAGE TO INFRASTRUCTURE

He said the 35-year-old alleged kingpin has been nabbed because he is apparently involved in the syndicate linked to the theft of fuel and damage to essential infrastructure, which form part of the National Key Point. The suspect was arrested on today  in Pretoria by a multidisciplinary team led by the Free State Hawks Serious Organised Crime Investigation team ,together with Bidvest Protea Coin Security and the Gauteng Traffic Department Saturation Unit. "It is known in the public domain that almost 8.5 million litres of fuel, valued at approximately R102 million, has been stolen from National Transnet Pipes in the last year. Forty six suspects have been arrested in the last three months owing to the multi-disciplinary approach operations, which proves to be a working formula. Now with the additional three linked to this incident, we are sitting at total of 49 suspects arrested in the country," said Nkwalase.

POLICE SEIZE TANKER

Nkwalase explained that this incident follows further investigation into the arrest of two suspects aged between 35 and 41 on Saturday, for the theft of fuel and tampering with the Transnet National Pipeline in Vrede, Free State. They were arrested while on the way to delivering the stolen fuel in Kromdraai, Witbank. "The duo, Mauro Aurelia Langa (41), a Mozambique national and Solly Khoza (35) appeared in the Vrede Magistrates Court yesterday briefly and are expected to be back in court next Monday. Police seized the tanker with fuel, which was about to be sold.