Lekhetho Ntsukunyane
The Ministry of Forestry and Land Reclamation was robbed of over M1million on Monday this week.
The money had been left in a safe in one of the ministry’s offices, and was meant for the Maseru urban land-reclamation project.
It was not immediately clear why such a large amount of money was being kept in an office and had not been deposited into a bank.
Forestry and Land Reclamation Minister Kabelo Mafura yesterday confirmed the theft in an interview with the Lesotho Times.
“It happened in the early hours of Tuesday. At the moment, I can only tell you that the missing money is over M1million, and that it was being kept in the ministry for Maseru urban soil-conservation projects,” Mr Mafura said.
However, the minister said he could not say more because investigations were in progress.
“I can’t say more about this case because it is now under police investigation. Revealing more details might alert the suspects because whoever they are, they might want to hear how much we know about the incident and use the information to their advantage,” Mr Mafura added.
Police spokesperson Clifford Molefe also confirmed the robbery and said investigations were in progress.
“The information we received from the ministry was that over M1 million was stolen yesterday morning. We were also made to understand that a private guard protecting the premises was found tied-up. The suspects are still at large and police investigations into the case are continuing,” Senior Inspector Molefe said.
Asked what the guard had said happened, Senior Inspector Molefe said: “We are told the suspects were armed and the incident happened in the early hours of Tuesday.”
