Three arrested over lodge burglaries

POLICE in the Karas Region have arrested three suspects in connection with a spate of burglaries at tourist lodges in remote areas.

Detective Warrant Officer Theodore Kotungondo said the suspects were arrested on Sunday morning during a police raid at Keetmanshoop. The suspects are expected to appear in the Keetmanshoop Magistrate’s Court today. Kotungondo said stolen items including foreign banknotes, cameras, clothes, watches and binoculars were recovered when the police searched a house in the town’s Ileni informal settlement where the suspects were staying. Some of the recovered items are linked to theft cases under investigation. Complainants have already identified some of the recovered items as theirs, said Kotungondo. The lodges that were burgled over the past three months are Savanna Lodge, Maritz Lodge, Seeheim Lodge and Kalkhofen Lodge. The latest break-in was reported at Kokerboom Lodge last Thursday, said Kotungondo. It is suspected that the suspects are not inhabitants of the Karas Region. ‘We have learnt that the suspects have been in the region for the past three months,’ said Kotungondo. Complimenting the officers for the breakthrough, regional police Commissioner Armas Shivute said: ‘Our motto is no break-ins and theft out of motor vehicles.’ Police statistics show that there were 36 burglaries at private businesses between January and July last year compared to the 24 reported in the same period this year. The number of house burglaries fell from 228 between January and July last year to 173 over the same period this year.