Thankiso Joseph Motaung (30) was found guilty and convicted by the Leslie Regional Court on Monday, 8 May 2023.
On 26 April 2016, members of the Hawks Serious Commercial Crime Investigation based in Middelburg followed up on information regarding a person who was using a skimming device at Leandra Off-ramp tollgate on N17 in Leslie.
The Hawks team together with private investigators from ABSA and FNB, conducted their preliminary exploration at the tollgate. They searched the operation booths and a skimming device was found which led to the arrest of the suspect.
The suspect was linked to other cases that occurred at Leslie, Secunda and Nelspruit in April 2016, and Hazywiew in May 2016.
Motaung will effectively serve 12 years’ in prison after he was convicted for 366 charges that includes conspiracy to commit an offence, possession of listed equipment, unlawful use of a computer programme, unlawful interception of Communication Act, Counterfeit Goods Act, fraud and theft.
The Provincial Head of the Hawks Major General Gerber applauded the Investigators and the prosecution team for ensuring that the accused received an appropriate sentence which will also serve as a deterrent to other would be scammers.
