Makobo stated that his men, who were thin on the ground, were overpowered by a large crowd of people who pretended to be giving a hand at the scene of the accident that left six people dead and 16 seriously injured. The target of the looters was mainly a consignment of tracksuits, which were bound for the United States.
“Our men at the scene had to call for reinforcements as they could not control people who were pushing and shoving in the dark taking away the tracksuits,” he said.
The police were able to spot some of the people who fled with some boxes containing the tracksuits. “Our efforts paid off as we managed to recover about 138 pieces of tracksuits which had been stolen from the scene,” Makobo said.
Those who stole the pieces, according to the police, literally ran away with the loot in front of the police on guard. Seven people were arrested after they failed to heed police orders to surrender the loot. The suspects are five men and two women.
The police confirmed that the two arrested women were identified as nurses based at the Mahalapye primary hospital. “There were only five officers at the scene, attending to the accident and controlling the crowd and they could not match the crowd at the scene. So people took advantage of the situation. Passersby looted and disappeared. Even some government officials could not give a helping hand,” he said.
Makobo expressed disappointment that among the people accused of looting were two local nurses who ran away with boxes containing tracksuits.
“One of the nurses had disappeared with 40 tracksuits whilst her colleague ran away with about 17 pairs. It is a disgrace that even people trained to be caregivers could inflict pain by looting the dead and the injured,” he said. “Who will ever trust these people again?” According to the police, the two nurses and some other people will be charged with theft.
“Our investigations are likely to lead to the recovery of more stolen goods,” Makobo said.
Makobo also revealed that after searching his officers have not found the dead bus conductor’s bag containing the day’s takings. “Anything could have happened to the bag. It was possibly stolen. We are hopeful that our investigations will reveal the truth.”
Makobo pointed out that some of the people who had disappeared with the loot were handing themselves over to the police.
