WINDHOEK City Police chief Abraham Kanime has warned members of the public against buying stolen items, saying they could be arrested and charged along with the suspected thieves.
He stated that those buying such stolen items risk getting the same sentence as the thieves who sold them the items because they are the ones fuelling theft.
He made the remarks during a media briefing on Tuesday, where he displayed items stolen from houses in Windhoek. Kanime explained that a television set was stolen from a house in the Soweto area. The thief allegedly then sold the television set to someone, but it was recovered, and the buyer and seller were arrested.
In another case, a laptop was stolen from a car at Windhoek’s Maerua Mall area on Tuesday, and later sold to a business specialising in fixing and selling the gadgets.
Kanime said the police were able to trace the laptop, and found a worker from the shop attempting to remove the information which would enable the tracing of the device.
The shop owner was arrested for contravening the Buying of Second-hand Goods Act, buying suspected stolen items, as well as defeating the course of justice.
Also on Tuesday, a tourist was robbed of a camera when the suspected thief stopped him, and told him his vehicle had a flat tyre. When the tourist got out of his car to investigate, the robber snatched his camera bag.
The City Police chief said they were able to apprehend the suspect and recovered the camera bag, but not the camera.
The suspect, who was out on bail, had just been acquitted of robbing South African tourists when the police caught up with him and arrested him at court.
Kanime stressed that his team was determined to convince the courts to refuse bail, especially for habitual offenders. The suspected thieves and buyers mentioned in the cases he cited were all repeat offenders.
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