A robbery at the Fifa headquarters in Johannesburg was confirmed by
national police commissioner General Bheki Cele.
“Yes we know there was a burglary there. We are looking into it,”
Cele told a national press club briefing in Pretoria.
He said seven trophy replicas and two jerseys had been taken during
the incident, which led police to believe that the crime was perpetrated by
people familiar with the offices.
It was not immediately clear when the incident took place.
Meanwhile, Cele said since the start of the World Cup, 316 people
had been arrested, 207 of them South African, for tournament-related
crime.
He said 109 of those arrests were of foreign nationals, with
Ethiopians topping the list at 11, followed by Algerians (nine), UK citizens
(eight), six people each from Mozambique, Zimbabwe, America and Pakistan, five
people from Argentina and four Slovakians.
“It’s the United Nations of crime,” he quipped to much
laughter.
Cele said 90% of the arrests were related to theft and by far the
majority of these cases could be attributed to negligence on the part of the
lawful owner.
Cellphones and laptops had been left unattended and then
stolen.
He said police were also increasing their vigilance outside the
stadiums as 29 cases of unauthorised ticket scalping had been reported.
“Thirty three people have been arrested in these cases, of which 14
are South African and 19 are citizens of other countries,” he said.
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