ZIM MAN JAILED EIGHT YEARS FOR POSSESSION OF STOLEN VEHICLE
A ZIMBABWEAN man has been jailed for eight years in South Africa after being convicted of possession of a stolen motor vehicle.
Cosmos Ndou (36) was arrested in September after he was found driving a bronze Toyota Fortuner heading towards the Limpopo River.
He was slapped with six years for the crime and another two years for contravening the South African Immigration Act by a Mokopane Regional magistrate yesterday.
In a statement, Limpopo police spokesperson, Colonel Ledwaba, said vehicle smuggling has become rampant along the South African border lines.
He described Ndou’s conviction as part of repeated efforts to curb vehicle theft in the neighbouring country.
“The conviction and subsequent sentencing comes after the court heard that on 18 September 2023, Ndou was found in possession of a stolen motor vehicle, a bronze Toyota Fortuner that was reported stolen at Brooklyn policing area, in Gauteng Province on the 16th of September 2023.
“On 18 September 2023, the police arrested Ndou, after the security company at Mookgopong was alerted by a vehicle tracking company to be on the lookout for the stolen vehicle that was coming in their direction, along R101 North.
“The security stopped the vehicle and found the driver, then explained to him that the vehicle was reported stolen.
“The police were quickly activated, and they immediately apprehended him,” reads the statement.
Colonel Ledwaba said most of these cars are stolen from rental cars in South Africa and find their way into neighbouring countries including Malawi, Mozambique, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
It also believed these vehicles are sold and smuggled out of South Africa, after which their owners, working with syndicates, then report them stolen and claim insurance money.