Two suspected PC gang members are to appear later today in the Pretoria Magistrate`s Court in connection with a series of laptop thefts in Pretoria and Johannesburg.
Detective inspector Diekie van der Westhuizen says the two will appear for the setting of a date for a formal bail application.
The two men, aged 20 and 22, were arrested at the Kempton Park PG Autoglass after they allegedly claimed they were fire inspectors. When PG Glass staff became suspicious, they contacted the police and the two were arrested for trespassing.
The men were also charged with stealing a laptop from the attorney-general`s office in Pretoria. Police are also investigating connections to other thefts in Pretoria, Johannesburg and the areas in and around Cape Town, as well as connections to other suspected syndicates.
Van der Westhuizen says phoney inspectors have also told companies they were there to fix carpets, or to deliver and collect post. Once gaining access to a building, they would steal unattended laptops and other computer accessories.
He says the police`s computer task team received 83 calls from companies in Johannesburg, Pretoria, Polokwane and Cape Town after an appeal was made to the public for people to report similar crimes.
"We have even been informed that the Pretoria Magistrate`s Court was robbed earlier this year and the chief magistrate`s laptop was stolen," he says.
The computer task team has launched an advertising campaign to make people more aware of computer syndicates` activities and to encourage anyone hit by computer syndicates to contact police. Van der Westhuizen says the campaign began today in the Eastern Cape on radio and in newspapers, and will be followed by similar campaigns in KwaZulu-Natal, the Free State and the Northern Province.
Anyone who has been targeted by a computer theft syndicate can contact Van der Westhuizen on 072 409 3127.
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