A police spying system targeting cigarette thieves in Mpumalanga has nailed five men.
Police rushed to a house in Lydenburg and asked to search it and found boxes full of illegal cigarettes worth just below R1m.
Police spokesman Sergeant Gerald Sedibe said: “The five suspects aged between 22 and 37 were arrested after police acted on information received regarding people who were smuggling illicit cigarettes. The operation was executed by the provincial police task team and crime intelligence.
“When we arrived at the house, we forced entry after the occupants failed to open.
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“Upon searching the house we found boxes of illicit cigarettes in the kitchen. We further searched outside where there were two vehicles, a bakkie Colt Rodeo, and a Chrysler, full of cartons of cigarettes. Their vehicles and the cigarette loot estimated at R900 000 were seized,” said Sedibe.
The case of the men was postponed to 27 September 2016 for further investigation after the Lyndeburg Magistrates Court denied them bail this week Tuesday.
(edited by MM)
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