SOUTH AFRICA COMPUTERS STOLEN http://www.timeslive.co.za/local/2012/04/12/links-probed-in-cosatu-thefts


Links probed in Cosatu thefts
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GRAEME HOSKEN | 12 April, 2012 00:35



Suspicion has been cast on the motive behind the theft of laptop computers stolen from the Gauteng homes of two senior Cosatu officials.


Tuesday night's theft of the three computers, some of which contained sensitive information, occurred while Cosatu spokesman Patrick Craven and his wife were asleep in their Brackenhurst, Alberton, home.

Craven's wife works for the National Union of Mineworkers of South Africa.

The theft comes days after the home of the trade union federation's social development co-ordinator, Sibusiso Gumede, was burgled and two Cosatu-owned laptops stolen.

The burglary at Gumede's Winchester Hills, southern Johannesburg, home was discovered on Monday after he returned from a wedding in KwaZulu-Natal.

In both cases, locked windows were forced open without the thieves breaking glass or setting off any alarms.

Craven said yesterday that he was highly suspicious about the burglary.

"Curiously, nothing else of value was taken. The police have said these burglars were highly professional, having forced open the burglar bars and removed the windowpane without breaking the glass.

"The thieves then made their way into the study and stole the laptops, one of which belongs to Cosatu.

"The other two are our personal laptops [which] contained all sorts of information, including unpublished draft documents," he said.

"What adds to my suspicions, and why I am worried about this especially from a security point of view, is that I am the second Cosatu member to have been burgled in the past few days," he said.

Gumede said both laptops, which were stolen sometime over the Easter weekend, contained a variety of Cosatu-related information, some of which was sensitive.

"As well as stealing the laptops, which were in my bedroom, money and perfume was also stolen," he said.

Provincial police spokesman Captain Pinky Tsinyane said cases of house robbery were being investigated.

"At this stage no arrests have been made although we are hoping for a breakthrough soon," she said.

Asked if officers were investigating whether the two cases could be linked, Tsinyane said it was too early to say.

"At the moment the cases are being investigated as separate cases, but if information emerges linking them then the investigation will change as such," she said.