Police have linked a suspicious couple apprehended at the Port Elizabeth airport, with R300 000 worth of IT equipment, to a recent break-in at a prominent Grahamstown resident's home.
Police have linked a suspicious couple apprehended at the Port Elizabeth airport, with R300 000 worth of IT equipment, to a recent break-in at a prominent Grahamstown resident's home.
Grahamstown police spokesperson Captain Mali Govender said two foreign nationals were arrested on Tuesday after Port Elizabeth police were alerted by baggage handlers that several suitcases containing laptops and other digital equipment were detected passing through airport scanners.
According to a police statement: It later emerged that seven out of 10 bags belonging to the [couple]were packed with electronic equipment including 32 laptops, 11 cell phones, cameras, a video camera, a DVD player and computer hard drives. All of these have an estimated value of at least R300 000.
The statement further said that initial investigations revealed that several of the laptops are positively linked to theft cases that were registered in Grahamstown. Investigators from Grahamstown are reportedly working closely with the investigating team in Port Elizabeth.
Last week Thursday the home of prominent Grahamstownian Strauss de Jager was broken into, while nobody was in the house, and nothing but laptops appeared to be stolen. De Jager had told police that according to their burglar alarm records, the robbers had scanned the house very quickly and disappeared before the security company arrived.
Both suspects, a 32-year-old woman and a 27-year-old man, have been detained at a Port Elizabeth police station on several charges including possession of suspected stolen property. They were due to appear in the Port Elizabeth Magistrate's Court yesterday.
