Three foreign nationals who were prevented from leaving the country with R11 million in their bank account will apply for bail in the Kimberley Magistrate’s Court on March 13.
THREE foreign nationals who were prevented from leaving the country with R11 million in their bank account will apply for bail in the Kimberley Magistrate’s Court on March 13.
The accused, who are all Bangladesh nationals – Aminul Islam, 39, Ullah Foji, 36 and Akter Atika, 23, were arrested by the Hawks’ Serious Commercial Crime Investigation team and Kimberley Crime Prevention unit on March 3.
Hawks provincial spokesperson Captain Tebogo Thebe said the accused allegedly tampered with a drop-safe that was used at their shop between March 1 to 3.
“They allegedly dropped an amount of R560,000 repeatedly, thereby making their drop-safe app account linked to the safe to be credited with approximately R11 million,” said Thebe.
He indicated that the R11 million was immediately transferred to different bank accounts locally and offshore.
“The Hawks’ Serious Commercial Crime Investigation team detected irregular activities in the account. They traced the suspects to Kimberley Airport as they were about to board a flight to Johannesburg, en route to Dubai/Dhaka.”
Thebe stated that the police searched the accused and found them in possession of R23,000 cash, which was seized.
He said the accused appeared in the Kimberley Magistrate’s Court on March 6 on charges of fraud and money laundering.
“They will make a formal bail application on March 13.”
