The police must follow up all information reported to them, even if it appeared silly or ludicrous, Senior Superintendent Selby Bokaba said on Friday.
He was reacting to a report that two Bloemfontein women might have spotted the poison extortionist who is trying to blackmail Pick ‘n Pay.
Bokaba called on the women to report the matter to the police.
”It is our responsibility to follow up all information reported to us, whether it made sense or not,” Bokaba said.
The Volksblad newspaper reported on Friday that a Bloemfontein housewife overheard a suspicious cellphone conversation by a man sitting behind her at Cape Town International Airport.
A teacher sitting opposite them in the departure lounge on Sunday afternoon, also from Bloemfontein, confirmed that the ”Oriental-looking” man acted very suspiciously.
”He first read the headlines of an English newspaper and was very excited when he phoned someone on his cellphone,” the housewife told the paper.
”How’s it there in Durban? Tell [name inaudible] it works!” she allegedly overheard the man saying.
”Tell him to buy the English Sunday papers. It’s now nationwide and they even offer a reward,” the cellphone conversation reportedly went.
Volksblad reported Bokaba burst out laughing when he was told about the women’s observations, saying the extortionist was much more clever than that.
Pick ‘n Pay has offered a reward of R5-million for information leading to the arrest of the extortionist. – Sapa