MBOMBELA – Two men from Zimbabwe and Mozambique briefly appeared before the Low’s Creek Periodical Court in connection with possession of stolen trucks.
The suspects were busted after being found with two hijacked trucks in separate incidents.
“The arrest of the Zimbabwean man, Eustice Phiri (37), came after police received information regarding a suspicious tipper truck which was on the N4 highway heading towards Malalane. The Lebombo Border Post Tracing Team then launched a lookout for it. The team then spotted and stopped the truck in Malalane. After a short probe, police discovered that it was hijacked from the owner at Welbekend outside Tshwane,” explained Sgt Gerald Sedibe.
The Mozambican suspect, Lucas Mkhonto (43), was nabbed at Lebombo Border Post while attempting to cross the border without a passport which was suspicious to the police. As a result, they instituted a probe and were able to trace the lawful owners of the truck. The owner denied to knowing the suspect. Further probe revealed that the suspect had allegedly hijacked the truck at Diepsloot in Gauteng.
Both trucks were en-route to Mozambique and the suspects are facing charges of possession stolen trucks. They will also face charges of hijacking at the respective police stations where the incidents took place.
Both suspects were remanded in custody for further investigation. The case against Mkhonto was postponed to Tuesday, the 26th of January 2016, at the Komatipoort Periodical Court, whilst for Phiri it was postponed to Wednesday, the 27th of January 2016, at the Malalane Periodical Court.
