A multi-disciplinary police team has arrested ten suspects, comprising one woman and nine men, for alleged fraud following an attempted R250 000 bank loan scam in Odendaalsrus in the Free State.
The suspects are aged between 23 and 49 years.
The police were alerted to the fraud on 1 April after a woman applied for a bank loan using fraudulent documents at a local financial institution. The bank manager informed police that the loan application had been provisionally approved and was awaiting security checks when it was discovered that the salary advice submitted by the applicant was fraudulent.
Upon the applicant’s return to the financial institution, preliminary investigations revealed that all three salary advices supplied by the suspect had been falsified.
The woman was working with a syndicate allegedly from Gauteng
Lt Col Thabo Covane, Free State police spokesperson
Further investigations showed that the woman was working with a syndicate allegedly from Gauteng that had already defrauded several other financial institutions.
A team comprising the Odendaalsrus Visible Police unit, Detective Branch, Welkom K9, and Lejweleputswa District Highway Patrol was mobilised to apprehend the suspects.
“The description of all the suspects and vehicles they were using was obtained and operationalised,” said Lt Col Thabo Covane, Free State police spokesperson.
Following thorough observation, two vehicles matching the description were spotted with their drivers. Covane said the other suspects were found in a nearby park and were subsequently apprehended by police. One driver managed to escape initially, but was traced and arrested in Welkom.
Two vehicles matching the description were spotted with their drivers
Lt Col Thabo Covane, Free State police spokesperson
Police confiscated several bank cards found in the suspects’ possession, along with two vehicles – a silver Suzuki seven-seater and a white Toyota Tazz – which were booked in as evidence.
The matter will be investigated by the Welkom Commercial Crimes unit.
The arrests come as the new provincial commissioner of police in the Free State, Lt Gen. Thabang Solomon Lesia, has identified organised crime as a priority.
“We will employ all uncompromised efforts to fight organised crime in the province,” Lesia declared.
