Two suspects between the ages of 28 and 36 were arrested on Monday, 13 June 2022 by the Hawks’ Serious Organised Crime Investigation team based in Bethlehem together with Visible Policing based in Harrismith and Tactical Response Team (TRT) based in Phuthaditjhaba as well as Crime Intelligence (CI) based in Phuthaditjhaba.
Their arrest originates from an incident which took place on Monday, 13 June 2022 where two security officials from Fidelity were patrolling the Transnet pipelines around Vrede.
While they were busy patrolling, they saw a white bakkie near Block Valve 59. When the suspects saw the security officials, they then drove away. The security officials then discovered that the block valve was opened with wooden blocks and petrol was dripping.
They also found one unknown African male who was later certified dead by members of the emergency services.
The suspects will appear in court soon where they will face charges of tampering with Transnet pipelines and theft of fuel.
