Police officers from the Ladysmith Vehicle Crime Investigation Unit (VCIU) seized 12 brand new vehicles on Wednesday morning (May 17).
The vehicles consist of six 4×4’s and six 2×4’s, which were ordered from a vehicle manufacturer during March this year. The vehicles are worth about R4.7 million. Company officials received an order from what they thought was a government department. The order was on what appeared to be an official letterhead and with official order numbers.
The vehicles were manufactured and as per the delivery address given in the order, they were delivered to a municipal premises in Ladysmith. However, when a municipal official was called to take delivery of the vehicles, he realised something was suspicious about the matter and contacted police.
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Also read: Update: Vehicles to the tune of R4.7 million recovered by police in Ladysmith
Police officers from Ladysmith travelled to Gauteng, where they consulted with officials from the company and also spoke to officials from the government department, who it turned out were unaware of this transaction.
Upon their return, police seized the vehicles. It is suspected that these vehicles were part of a scam to defraud the company and that the suspects intended to move the vehicles across the border.
At this time, no arrests have been made.
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