Two City of Ekurhuleni (CoE) municipality officials have been arrested on allegations that they were stealing diesel belonging to the municipality.
According to the CoE, the two were arrested following a sting operation conducted at an agricultural holding by the Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Police Department, various law enforcement agencies and private security stakeholders.
“The first suspect was arrested when he came in to offload diesel and the rest were nabbed at the Springs Depot. Also arrested were the owner of the private bus fleet company and two of his employees in the facility where the diesel was being offloaded.
“The arrests followed an ongoing intelligence-driven operation that has been surveilling the city’s vehicles, mainly trucks, which had been spotted on several instances offloading diesel at the facility, which is a private bus depot. Following weeks of investigations, the private security operators working under supervision with the Multi Dimensional Organised Crime unit, finally pounced on the suspects,” the municipality said.
The CoE said it is unclear how diesel was looted from the resources of the city.
“The modus operandi was that the trucks would fill up at the municipal depots each morning only to go and off load the fuel at the private facility and get paid for this. They would then return the vehicles empty and refill the next morning and do the same thing over,” the municipality said.
The municipality's Police Chief Isaac Mapiyeye said more arrests are imminent.
“This seems to have been a well-orchestrated operation that ran for months, and the police working with the fleet management team of the city (EMPD) have been working tirelessly to nail those involved.
“Foul play has always been suspected because of the rate at which some of our vehicles were refilling fuel on a regular basis. Unfortunately for the criminal elements their luck finally ran out.
“We will not rest until all those who are involved in such illicit acts are behind bars. This is public money and money that we desperately need to provide quality and sustainable services to the community of Ekurhuleni,” Mapiyeye vowed. – SAnews.gov.za
