SOUTH Africa’s Polokwane Magistrate’s Court will this week continue with the bail application of 34-year-old, Loaded Maguta, who was arrested last month for possession of a stolen vehicle, a Toyota Fortuner, Limpopo police said.
SA Police Service (SAPS) in Limpopo spokesperson, Brigadier Hlulani Mashaba, according to a report on Independent Online, said Maguta appeared in court last week, and he was remanded in custody until Thursday.
“The suspect, Loaded Maguta appeared on November 2, for formal bail, he is remanded in police custody until November 9, for further police investigations,” Mashaba told IOL.
Last week, IOL reported that the 34-year-old Zimbabwean man, Maguta, was remanded in custody when he appeared before the Polokwane Magistrate’s Court for possession of the Toyota Fortuner.
At the time, Mashaba said the Toyota Fortuner sport utility vehicle, which was recovered during Maguta’s dramatic arrest, was reported stolen in Gauteng.
The 34-year-old man who was nabbed near the Beitbridge border post is also linked to a vehicle smuggling syndicate operating between Gauteng and Limpopo, police said.
Regarding the arrest, Mashaba said different units of the SAPS, as well as private security companies, received information about Maguta who was driving on the Berghenk Road, with the intention of smuggling a vehicle from Gauteng to Zimbabwe through the busy Beitbridge border post.
“An operation was activated, and the team spotted the described Toyota Fortuner 2.8. They tried to stop it, but the driver sped off,” Mashaba said at the time.
A high-speed chase ensued from the Kuschke Agriculture School until the Toyota Fortuner came to a stop along the R101 Road.
“The suspect was immediately arrested for possession of a suspected stolen motor vehicle, driving without a valid driving licence, and it was also established that he is in the country illegally,” said Mashaba.
Preliminary investigations have revealed that the vehicle was reported stolen at Garsfontein, in Pretoria on October 21.
“The same suspect, on the October 14, allegedly smuggled a Toyota Hilux Legend 50 to Zimbabwe,” Mashaba said at the time.
Following Maguta’s arrest, provincial commissioner of SAPS in Limpopo, Lieutenant General Thembi Hadebe commended the law enforcement teams involved “for moving swiftly” to arrest the suspect.
Hadebe has also directed the law enforcement teams probe the modus operandi in order to prevent the same incidents from happening in the province.
Maguta is facing charges including breaching of immigration laws, possession of suspected stolen motor vehicle and driving a motor vehicle without valid driving licence.
Police said ongoing investigations might link Maguta to similar cases of vehicle theft and smuggling.
IOL
