A-Team due in court for bail hearing tomorrow

THREE alleged A-Team members are expected to appear in the Port Elizabeth Magistrate’s Court for a bail hearing tomorrow.

Anathi Faku, 27, Anoyolo Mangaliso, 27, and Shuma Muareng, 26, were arrested two weeks ago after allegedly stealing a laptop from a business in Newton Street, Newton Park.

They appeared briefly in court on Tuesday and their case was postponed to tomorrow. They all have warrants of arrest and more than seven pending cases each for theft.

Mount Road police station detective Warrant Officer Lulamile Sam has been assigned to focus on A-Team-related cases after a breakdown in communication resulted in them being released from custody. Sam will oppose bail tomorrow. Police spokeswoman Captain Sandra Janse van Rensburg said the detective had rounded up several dockets related to the thefts from po- lice stations around Nelson Mandela Bay including Walmer, Humewood and Mount Road.

“To date we have linked these three to at least 11 cases in and around the Port Elizabeth area.

“There were a series of other thefts we believe they were involved with. However, in all those incidents there are no witnesses or footage showing them taking the actual items. With these cases we have not been able to prosecute them due to lack of evidence linking them to the thefts,” she said.

“The detective is still however assessing if they are linked to more cases from other policing areas.

“I can confirm that we have also seen a dramatic reduction in thefts from businesses over the past two weeks. Detectives have also established that all three were wanted and that between all of them they had 17 different aliases with more than 30 different residential addresses.”

Crimes include the theft of laptops, cellphones and handbags.