Johannesburg

Sunday

More sun than clouds. Pleasantly warm.

16°C
28°C

7 day forecasts

P'nP: Extortionist spotted?

2003-07-10 22:29

Erika Fourie

Bloemfontein - Two Bloemfontein women believe they might have spotted the Pick 'n Pay extortionist who is trying to blackmail the retailer by poisoning some products.

A housewife said she overheard a suspect cellphone conversation by a man who was sitting behind her at Cape Town International Airport.

A teacher, who was sitting opposite them in the departure lounge on Sunday afternoon, confirmed that the "Oriental" man acted very suspiciously when he suddenly started talking excitedly on his cellphone.

"He first read the headlines of an English newspaper and was very excited when he phoned someone on his cellphone.

'How's it there in Durban? Tell ... (name couldn't be made out) it works! Tell him to buy the English Sunday papers. It's now nationwide and they even offer a reward. Sorry to bother you, but please tell ... to read the papers'," the housewife, who wants to remain anonymous, heard.

Sunday's headlines focused on the R5m reward that Pick 'n Pay is offering for information on the extortionist.

"I was sitting with my back to him, but could clearly hear what he was saying," the housewife said.

The teacher described the man as a "neat, dark man with short hair, a slight beard and glasses".

"I heard him saying: "The news just broke in the papers. Think I must just tell you". He had no luggage with him. He wasn't on the Bloemfontein flight."

The housewife said she couldn't understand at first why someone could be so excited about the contents of a newspaper.

"But when I was safely on the plane, I realised it could be a possible clue in the poison drama."

Senior Superintendent Selby Bokaba, police spokesperson, apparently burst out laughing when he was told about the women's observations.

"The guilty parties are much cleverer than that. There is no way a person involved in such a serious crime would leak the fact in public. If he was that careless, he would have been caught long ago," Bokaba said.

Pick 'n Pay CEO Sean Summers, however, said they would definitely follow up the information. "We cannot ignore any information," he said.

- Volksblad

inside news24

Weather
Traffic
Lottery
Cpt: 16-23°C Sprinkles early. Morning clouds. Mild. Pta: 18-30°C More sun than clouds. Pleasantly warm.
Jhb: 16-28°C More sun than clouds. Pleasantly warm. Bloem: 17-31°C More sun than clouds. Pleasantly warm.
Dbn: 18-24°C A few showers. Partly sunny. Mild. PE: 16-25°C Morning clouds. Mild.
7 day forecasts...

Jobs - Find your dream job

C#.NET Applications Developer (Contractor – R280 – R320 per hour)

Gauteng - JHB North/Sandton
E-Merge IT Recruitment
R280-320 Per Hour

C#.NET Senior Applications Developer

Gauteng - JHB North/Sandton
E-Merge IT Recruitment
R480,000-500,000 Per Annum Cost To Company

C#.NET Application Developer

Gauteng - JHB North/Sandton
E-Merge IT Recruitment
R380,000-400,000 Per Annum Cost To Company

Cars - Search 1000's of new and used cars

AUDI

2009 Audi A3 2.0 T Sportback Manual - 24000kms
Lava Grey & Tan leather interior
R 275 000

VOLKSWAGEN

Touran 1.9 TDi Trendline DSG MPV Dsl
2006
R 165,995.00

AUDI

A3 Sportback 2.0 FSi Ambition Tiptronic 5-dr
2006
R 192,660.00

TOYOTA

Yaris T1 1.0 5-dr AC
2009
R 145,900.00

Property - Find a new home

WATERVAL EAST

Single Residential R2,400,000

KWAAIWATER

Single Residential R2,500,000

WELBEDACHT

Single Residential R2,600,000

Travel - Look, Book, Go!

Luxury bush escape

Book a five-star stay at Pumba Game Lodge or Richard Branson's Ulusaba Safari Lodge and save R2 000. More details!

Free Games - TOO MUCH NEWS? TAKE A BREAK!

Kalahari.net - shop online today

Great Festive Savings on Books

Up to 30% Off ALL Books. 2.3 million titles on SALE.

Sleek New iPod Range. Order Your's Now!

iPod nano 16GB - Black, Was R2,499.00 Now R2,299.00! Save R200!

Up to 40% off Fabulous Festive Flicks

46 000 DVDs and Blu-Ray on sale now! Pre-order Up and District 9!

Up to 20% off ALL Music

100s of festive new releases now in stock! Now, Bump 25, Bon Jovi & more!

1000s of Festive Toys on Sale

Lots of Toys, free gift wrap, lowest prices on Lego Mindstorm, Ben 10, Hannah Montana & more!

Hot Deal of the Day!

Up to 30% off Books

Ends midnight, 30 November

2.3 million titles on sale! New Stieg Larsson, Jeremy Clarkson, Jamie Oliver & more!

Up to 40% Off Sale on All Books, Toys, CDs, DVDs & Games!