Last week, South African Crime Intelligence officers allegedly tracked Thabo Bester and Dr Nandipha Magudumana to Tanzania, where they monitored him for a while before pouncing on Friday night.
They were arrested in Arusha together with a Mozambican national who was allegedly assisting them.
The trio were arrested following joint efforts by Interpol and the police’s Crime Intelligence Unit. It is believed they were on their way to Kenya at the time of their arrest.
Sources who spoke to Entrepreneur Hub SA on condition of anonymity, said last week Crime Intelligence officials tracked Bester and Magudumana to Tanzania. The news of their arrest was welcomed with much jubilation.
Private security company Fidelity ADT had also been assisting the police in the hunt for the couple. Last week, CEO Wahl Bartmann put up R100 000 for information that would lead to their arrest.
Thabo Bester and Nandipha Magudumana were arrested in Tanzania.
Bartmann said the company received many calls, and some callers were not even interested in the reward money. “They just wanted him caught”.
He said those tips led to the identification of the vehicle the couple were using, and the Fidelity Business Intelligence Centre was able to trace the car using CCTV cameras.
According to Bartmann, the couple left the country through the Zimbabwean border and fled to Tanzania, where they were apprehended.
In a joint statement on Saturday, the police, justice and correctional services ministry said the couple were being processed and that a delegation from South Africa, comprising senior officials, would depart for Tanzania on Sunday.
During a press briefing on Saturday, Police Minister Bheki Cele said Bester and Magudumana were found in possession of multiple passports.
“None of the passports were stamped,” he said.
Cele said Bester and his accomplices were arrested 10 kilometres from the Kenyan border.
He said:
It looks like they were heading to another country.
Meanwhile, Entrepreneur Hub SA understands that Magudumana’s wellness clinic, which was being built next door to the rented Hyde Park mansion the couple shared, was bankrolled by several investors.
Authorities are working to trace these investors in a quest to find out who was working with Bester in nefarious activities on the other side of the prison.
During Saturday’s press briefing, an emboldened Cele said he now had “extra confidence” in the police.
“They [the suspects] were spotted by people working with South African authorities. They were driving a black SUV and were followed from a hotel while heading to the border of another country,”
Cele said it was discovered there that each of the suspects had several passports with them.
He indicated that they were yet to ascertain how the suspects reached Tanzania.
“Their entry into Tanzania was illegal. Their passports were not stamped, so we do not know how and when they entered Tanzania because those details are not on their passports,”
Cele
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