The police in Kavango East have apprehended two suspects who allegedly stole cattle in Angola and crossed the Kavango River in an attempt to sell them to buyers. 

Both the suspects are Namibian, with one of them being a fugitive who escaped from the Rundu charge station holding cells recently.

Regional Crime Coordinator for the Kavango East, Moses Simaho, narrated, "Around six o'clock we received information on a message that there are five cattle stolen from Angola, and they crossed through the Sikondo border, but it's not actually a gazetted border, but it is a parous border through the river, and they are being driven by the two suspected persons."

Deputy Commissioner Simaho and his team set up a plan to apprehend the suspects and worked with the surrounding community informants to track the culprits.

"After three hours, what happened is our community saw the suspects, and they went to them, and they did the arrest themselves. While our officers were driving around, they spotted that no public members were struggling with the two suspects. Then, when they went to assist those community members, those two suspects were arrested, and five cattle were recovered."

With increasing stock theft cases, Simaho warned the perpetrators that the police are on their trail.

"We have got a lot of cases, which is always a success, so we are arresting and we are recovering cattle, or we are recovering carcasses. Yes, we want to send a strong message to the cattle thieves that we are on their neck; we will hunt them down until we have to get this situation to normal."

With the festive season approaching, Simaho sent a stern warning to those involved in criminal activities.

Simaho lauded the community's efforts.

"We the police alone will not make it if you are going to be absent in our crime preventions and crime detections, so we really appreciate you."

"Our country is going through an outbreak of FMD cases like this of stock theft. We work together with DVS; they are on their way to come and inspect whether maybe there's a virus because we really want to prevent it from happening in our region, and for the festive season, the operation is very ready. We are ready; our operatives will be deployed all over," said the Deputy Commissioner. Lucia Kahuure, Commander for Crime Prevention in the Kavango East. 

Kahuure urged the community to work together with the police to fight crime.

Alfons Sikongo is the owner of the recovered cattle.

"I am a Namibian living at Kasote here in Rundu. I was informed by my sister on the Angolan side that someone had stolen my oxens and crossed the river. I quickly informed the police here, and they worked swiftly to inform all nearby communities, and they were recovered. I thank the police."