A ground handling company employee caught with a Dutch football club shirt hidden in his jacket was arrested at OR Tambo International Airport last week.

The man was stopped when he tried to leave the access-controlled area the day after Christmas.

“He placed his jacket into a scanner and the screener determined that there was another garment wrapped in the jacket. Security staff then found a new soccer shirt of Dutch football team Feyenoord had been wrapped in the jacket,” the airport said in a security update on Friday.

“The employee could not account for the shirt and was taken to the SAPS station at the airport and arrested.”

The bust was part of the airport’s peak holiday season security checks that have seen 3,500 people and 560 vehicles working on the airside of the national key point being subjected to stop-and-search operations.

Airport spokesperson Samukelo Khambule said the aim of the blitz went beyond intercepting criminal activity but created uncertainty in the minds of criminals, which in turn helped in crime prevention.

She said additional staff had been roped in to assist with monitoring CCTV cameras.

“We appreciate that the greater numbers of travellers at this time of year can also attract criminals. Additional physical monitoring of the terminals is therefore essential. We have also secured additional qualified staff to assist with real-time monitoring in the CCTV control room,” she said.

The airport said its precinct was monitored by nearly 3,000 CCTV cameras with more than 200 of them watching baggage-handling areas.

The man’s arrest follows that of Kunde Kwini who was convicted of touting last month.  

Khambule hailed both the arrests.

“Securing convictions for arrests of this nature has been a challenge in the past. We are therefore pleased that a touter has been convicted,” she said.

“On the baggage side, we have noticed instances on some international routes where heavy, over-filled and tightly packed bags have split when rolling down baggage chutes.

“This causes delays in loading of baggage wagons which in turn could affect departure times. We appeal to passengers to use an extra bag rather than cramming everything into one case,” said Khambule.

Members of the Msomi family – whose loved ones where gunned down while watching TV in Mpumalanga, outside Pietermaritzburg, in December – are pleased that someone has been arrested in connection with the deaths.

According to police, a 29-year-old man, who was arrested in December for being in  possession of a vehicle suspected to be stolen, has been linked to the murders of six people in their house on December 11.

“Preliminary investigation was conducted and revealed that the vehicle was hijacked in the Mariannhill area in December 2016, where the driver was shot and wounded,” said Saps KZN spokesperson Capt Nqobile Gwala.

Further investigations by detectives from the provincial organised crime unit linked the man to the murders of Mvumo Msomi, 55, his children Dumisani, 25, Philisiwe, 30, and Celiwe, 11, his nephew Dumisani, 28, and their neighbour Bongani, 40.

The Msomi family was hit by a hail of bullets after their house was surrounded by unknown people while they were in their living room on the evening of December 11.

Msomi’s youngest child, Luyanda, 3, survived and was taken to a local clinic. His wife Zanele and other children Slindile, Sifiso and Senathi were unharmed.

At the time of the murders, Msomi’s brother Ndodo called on KZN police commissioner Khombinkosi Jula, who visited the family after the incident, to ensure that a speedy arrest was made.

“We know that the man who was arrested did not act alone and others need to be arrested, but this is a start. The law needs to run its course and find the others, so that we can feel protected as citizens of this country,” said Ndodo.

Gwala said the suspect had appeared in the Hammarsdale magistrate’s court on two occasions: on December 23 for possession of a suspected stolen vehicle and then on Thursday in connection with the murder and attempted murder charges.

“The suspect will be profiled to check if he is linked to the Mariannhill hijacking and attempted murder, as well as other serious cases reported,” she said.

He will be back in court on January 9.