Photo for illustration only. (Archive photo)
A man was sentenced to 12 years in prison this week after he was caught with a device that helped him steal money from toll gates in Mpumalanga.
Thankiso Joseph Motaung (30) committed these crimes seven years before, but was finally found guilty and sentenced in the Leslie Regional Court on Monday.
He stood trial on 366 charges of fraud and theft, as well as, among other things, conspiracy to commit a crime and the illegal use of a computer program.
Capt. Dineo Sekgotodi, spokesperson for the Hawks, says members of the Hawks’ serious commercial crime investigation unit received information in April 2016 that a person was using an illegal device to steal money from the toll gate of the Leandra exit.
The Hawks worked with private investigators from ABSA and FNB and conducted an investigation at the toll gate.
“They searched every operating station at the toll gate and found the illegal device in one of these booths,” says Sekgotodi.
“This finally led to the arrest of the suspect.”
Motaung has finally been linked to the same type of crime at other toll gates in Secunda, Nelspruit and Hazyview.
Maj. Gen. Nicholas Jacobus Gerber, provincial head of the Falcons, thanked the investigators in the case for the work done to secure this sentencing.
“The accused received an appropriate sentence that will serve as a deterrent to other fraudsters,” he says.
