‘Homeless’ men bust for NPA break-in

Task team nets two ‘homeless’ men in high-profile break-ins around Pretoria

Two “homeless” men have been arrested and will appear in court today in a first breakthrough in the spate of highprofile burglaries targeting government institutions.

The men, linked to about eight break-ins including those committed at prosecutors’ offices and the Hawks, according to sources, were said to be homeless because investigators could not verify their addresses.

Sowetan can reveal that the pair, aged 39 and 40, were traced by the joint investigative task team made up of the Hawks and the Gauteng provincial investigative unit.

They will appear in the Pretoria Magistrate’s Court today.

Their arrests come in the wake of another break-in, this time in the offices of the Competition Commission, which has been investigating cartel conduct in various sectors.

Spokesman for the commission Sipho Ngwema confirmed the incident where two laptops were stolen on Tuesday from the division responsible for investigations into cartel conduct.

“The commission has taken the necessary measures and safeguards to enhance security,” Ngwema said.

According to a source close to the probe into the break-ins, preliminary investigations have revealed that the alleged criminals used emergency fire escape doors of the buildings in Pretoria to gain entrance into the property where they stole computers and laptops.

Between March and this month, a number of unprecedented burglaries were reported to have taken place in government institutions in Pretoria.

Most of the robberies occurred last month.

“The joint investigative task team analysed all the breakins in government institutions to identify the modus operandi of the suspects,” said the source. “The team was able to link eight break-ins to the same group targeting judicial institutions.”

Sowetan can further reveal that the two suspects were linked through fingerprints to all the cases except in one break-in at Promat Building, the offices of the Hawks, “where the suspects were wearing hand gloves”.

“The men were also captured on video footage while committing their nefarious act,” the source said.

The video is said to have played a major role in identifying the pair who were traced and arrested in the Pretoria CBD.

They will face seven charges of business burglary and theft. One of the suspects will face an additional charge of escaping from police custody.

“He was arrested by security at the Hawks and was taken to Steve Biko [Academic] Hospital. He vanished from there,” said the source.

The crime-fighting unit is certain that the pair were linked to the break-ins at the offices of the National Director of Public Prosecutions, the offices of the chief prosecutor at the Pretoria Magistrate’s Court, the SAPS Koedoe Building, and the Hawks’ serious commercial crimes building.

Other break-ins were also reported at the shared offices of the Hawks and the SAPS forensics unit at the General Piet Joubert Building.

Hawks spokesman Brigadier Hangwani Mulaudzi confirmed the arrests.

“The investigation is continuing, which could result in additional charges to the suspects,” he said.

Sowetan was reliably informed that one of the men is also linked to break-ins in the Department of Justice and Law Chambers in Pretoria.

Contacted for comment, the authorities at some of the offices targeted by the suspects said the matter was subject to police investigations.

‘ ‘ The men were linked to about eight break-ins