A mugshot taken of Thabo Bester around the time of his trial. Source: Used by several newspapers in 2011 without attribution (copied for fair use)
Police on Monday announced that two more suspects have been arrested as investigations into Thabo Bester’s escape from prison continue.
Bester and his partner Dr Nandipha Magudumana were arrested in Tanzania on Friday.
On Monday, police confirmed that a 39–year-old former G4S employee and a 65-year-old man from Port Edward, Eastern Cape, have been detained.
G4S is the company that provided security at the Mangaung Correctional Centre that Bester escaped from in May 2022.
“The multi-disciplinary team investigating Bester’s escape from the Mangaung Correctional Centre arrested the duo over the past weekend,” said national police spokesperson Brigadier Athlenda Mathe.
Both suspects have been charged with aiding and abetting a convicted prisoner to escape from custody.
They are expected to appear at the Bloemfontein Magistrate’s Court on Tuesday, 11 April 2023.
Mathe said the former G4S employee was arrested at his home in Bloemfontein on Saturday. The 65-year-old man was arrested at his home in Port Edward on Friday.
Meanwhile, a South African delegation, led by Deputy National Commissioner responsible for Policing, Lieutenant-General Tebello Mosikili, has arrived in Arusha, Tanzania, to try bring Bester and Magudumana back to South Africa.
“The team is currently engaged with their Tanzanian counterparts to finalise all legal processes required towards bringing escapee Thabo Bester and his accomplices to justice in South Africa.”
ALSO READ: Thabo Bester and Dr. Nandipha Magudumana arrested in Tanzania
South Africa’s police commissioner, General Fannie Masemola, welcomed the arrests and said the possibility of more arrests could not be ruled out.
Bester and Magudumana were arrested in Tanzania on Friday night. They were caught with several passports – containing multiple identities – in their possession.
A Mozambican national, Zakaria Alberto, was also arrested. He was allegedly helping the couple move across African borders in their bid to escape detention.
They travelled from Johannesburg to Bulawayo, Zimbabwe; to Zambia and then to Dar es Salaam in Tanzania; before they were nabbed in Arusha.
ALSO READ: Thabo Bester arrest: Did Dr Nandipha Magudumana steal the identity of Dr Pashy?
The Sunday Times reported that Magudumana allegedly stole three bodies from mortuaries in the Free State in a bid to help Bester escape from prison.
The report claimed the bodies were obtained by Magudumana over a few weeks, before Bester escaped from the Mangaung Correctional Centre.
Magudumana claimed one of the bodies after saying it was her father. The body was found dumped in a river a week later. It still had the mortuary’s identification tag attached to the toe, according to the Sunday Times.
Bester escaped from the Mangaung Correctional Centre in Bloemfontein after it was initially believed he had committed suicide by setting himself alight in his cell. The charred body that was found in his cell is yet to be identified.
NOW READ: How Nandipha Magudumana ‘stole bodies’ to help Thabo Bester escape – report
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