By Poloko Mokhele
The Lesotho Mounted Police Service (LMPS) on Friday seized a number of laptops from some of the students at the National University of Lesotho (NUL) which are suspected to have been stolen and purchased illegally.
The laptops were taken from students who reside off-campus after the police received numerous reports of a high rate of laptops theft; it was against this background that the police launched an operation to seize those that the owners could not prove their ownership.
The NUL Students Representative Council (SRC) president, Tumo Tsanyane indicated that the operation was launched after the police received numerous reports of stolen laptops from the students.
“The police informed us that they have been receiving a lot of cases lately of missing laptops from some of our fellow students, particularly from the area where a lot of them reside. So the police took a decision to launch an operation to confiscate the laptops because they suspected that some of the thieves could still be among us since there is no way a person from outside Roma can come and steal without knowing who has a laptop and who does not,” Tsanyane said.
He stated that when the police arrived at the students’ residences where there seemed to be a lot of missing laptops, they asked everyone who owns a laptop to hand it over to them or prove ownership.
“After the operation we called the police as the SRC in a bid to map the way forward and find out how those who can prove when and how they purchased the laptops can get them. The police asked us to go to their offices and some of the students were able to recoup their laptops,” Tsanyane said.
Tsanyane told theReporter that the laptops that were left at the police station are those whose owners did not have documents to prove their ownership.
“However, we are working tirelessly with the police to ensure that everyone gets their laptop. I think at least 30 laptops are still with the police.”
Contacted for comment, police spokesperson senior superintendent Mpiti Mopeli said the matter has not yet reached his office.
