13 Feb 2019

Rising incidents of motor vehicle theft within Kutlwano policing area in Francistown is giving the police sleepless nights, says district criminal and investigation department Officer, Superintendent Thomas Letebele.

Superintendent Letebele said in an interview on Tuesday that although not a single such occurrence was reported in 2017, a total of 27 vehicles was recorded stolen in 2018.

Out of the 27, Kutlwano police reported 10, Tati Town police station six, Gerald police six, Tonota four and Matsiloje, which recorded a single case.

According to Supt Letebele, 12 vehicles had been recovered, eight of which were left abandoned.

“We have returned some of the vehicles to the rightful owners and arrested a number of suspects in connection with the cases in point,” said Supt Letebele.

This year, one of four vehicles reported stolen was found deserted along Francistown/ Ramokgwebana road. Prior to being dumped, the said vehicle, a Mercedes Benz was involved in an accident.

Investigations by police revealed that Honda Fit and Toyota Run-X model cars were primary targets by criminals who sometimes broke into houses, stole keys for the vehicles in question before making away with them or forcibly demanding keys for the same from owners late at night or in the wee-wee hours of the day.

“We are yet to establish the market for these vehicles, but we suspect Zimbabwe because we have recovered most documents linked to stolen vehicles along Botswana/Zimbabwe boarder,” he said.

Meanwhile Supt Letebele was convinced that other than beefing up police security, Ntebela ke go Lebele programme remained among ideal platforms that could help stop this growing trend from spiraling out of control.

To this end, Supt Letebele said the police had through their community policing section started to mobilise the general community and teach them about the benefits that could be derived from such community policing initiatives; a development, he said, had been met with mixed reactions by residents.

Motor vehicle theft was penalised by law and if found guilty, a first offender would be liable to imprisonment not less than five years or more than 10 years without option of a fine, while a second offender could be imprisoned for a term not less than seven years or more than 14 years without option of a fine. Ends