/ 9 October 2008

Cigarette fraud scheme fizzles out

Two men passing off cartons of stones as cigarettes to spaza-shop owners have been arrested in Tembisa, East Rand police said on Thursday.

”The men aged 21 and 22, both from Mokopane in Limpopo, were found in their car with more than 10 cartons of counterfeit cigarettes stuffed with stones inside,” said spokesperson Lesiba Manamela.

Manamela the men sold the ”cigarettes” to a number of Gauteng tuck-shop owners, who only realised later that they had been tricked into buying boxes filled with stones.

They operated in various parts of the province and seemed to live in their car, stolen from the mother of one of the tricksters.

Last week, a tuck-shop owner in Ivory Park went to the police with the boxes filled with stones.

Police appealed to other victims of this scam to come forward.

The pair will appear in the Tembisa Magistrate’s Court soon, said Manamela. — Sapa