CAPE TOWN - Police in the Western Cape have arrested 10 suspects, including a woman believed to be part of a fraud syndicate cloning fuel cards.
Western Cape Provincial police spokesperson Colonel Andre Traut said in a statement on Friday that detectives attached to the Provincial Commercials Crimes Unit teamed up with investigators from financial institutions to nab the suspects.
Traut said the alleged fraudsters, nine men and one woman aged between 23 and 41 were arrested.
“Intensive investigation into the syndicate’s criminal activities led the investigation team to a petrol filling station in Paarl earlier in the week where the suspects were apprehended in possession of 52 cloned fuel cards, mostly linked to government vehicles.
“Three point of sale devices, 14 cellular telephones, 74 x 25 litre containers, four vehicles, fuel slips and cash to the tune of R32 000 were also confiscated,” Traut said.
According to Traut, the arrested woman is alleged to be an intern employed by the South African Police Service (SAPS) in Mitchells Plain.
He said her involvement has also now become subject to a departmental investigation.
“The investigation into the circumstances surrounding the arrest of the 10 suspects is still underway and the possibility of more arrests is not excluded,” Traut added.
The suspects are expected to appear in the Paarl Magistrate’s Court on Tuesday.
In an unrelated incident, a 32-year-old man was arrested in Roosendal in Delft for the possession of two unlicensed firearms and ammunition.
According to police, members of the Delft Crime Prevention Unit (CPU) stopped an e-hailing vehicle and the driver indicated there was a suspicious person in the vehicle.
The suspect tried jumping out of the vehicle but was apprehended. His bag was searched and two 9mm pistols were found.
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