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By Jonisayi Maromo 
1 hour ago
Pretoria – An alleged con artist who has been on the run since May 2015 was arrested by the serious organized crime investigation team of the Crime Priority Investigation Directorate (the Hawks) in Nelspruit, in collaboration with the community safety initiative Bossies Community Justice .
Western Cape province police had submitted a request for the arrest of 42-year-old Sipho Casta Motha, Mpumalanga Hawks spokeswoman Capt.Dineo Lucy Sekgotodi said in a statement Wednesday night.
“The dedicated team spent sleepless nights making sure the suspect is brought to the search,” Sekgotodi said.
“It is alleged that in June 2014, the suspect allegedly posed as a truck dealer and received approximately R150,000 from a businessman who needed a truck for commercial purposes.”
The fraud victim traveled from the Western Cape to Johannesburg to search for the heavy vehicle, but Motha did not deliver.
“A case was reported to the police in Cape Town and they had searched for him until information was received that he was hiding in Mpumalanga province. He was arrested on Tuesday, January 26, 2021 in Barberton after an instant search by the Hawks, ”said Sekgotodi.
Motha appeared briefly at Barberton Magistrates Court and was taken into custody. He is expected to appear again before the Khayelitsha Magistrates Court in Cape Town on February 2.
In a separate incident, two men appeared in eMalahleni district court on fraud charges earlier this week after a series of transactions using fake fleet fuel cards.
Kenneth Maoto, 35, and Reginald Nuvunga, 34, were arrested in Witbank by the Hawks’ serious business crime investigation team last Friday.
Using counterfeit fuel cards that they created under two different companies, the couple conducted fraudulent transactions worth just over R110,000.
The case against the man was postponed until February 3 for further investigation, and they were placed in pretrial detention.
African News Agency (ANA)
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