Pretoria - Fugitives Thabo Bester and his girlfriend, Dr Nandipha Magudumana arrived in South Africa in the wee hours of this morning and were taken into custody, amid a heavy security contingent.
A plane carrying the duo landed at Lanseria airport in Gauteng this morning, and the fugitives were quickly whisked away in separate vehicles.
Flight ZSDFJ reportedly ferried the two into South Africa.
Bester and Magudumana were tracked and nabbed in Tanzania last week after the former staged his own fiery “death” in his cell at the Mangaung Correctional Centre in Bloemfontein in May 2022.
BREAKING NEWS: #ThaboBester and #DrNandiphaMagudumana are expected to land in South Africa in the early hours of the morning. And now the real circus will begin. pic.twitter.com/pODjIbLYGD
Bester, who is also known as the “Facebook rapist” and had many other aliases, lured scores of young women, raping them and robbing them, promising them lucrative modelling jobs.
Bester’s escape was recently confirmed by the Department of Correctional Services following an in-depth investigative report by GroundUp and the matter has since been under investigation.
Here comes #DrNandiphaMagudumana pic.twitter.com/BmytOMh8jO
— Mzilikazi wa Afrika (@IamMzilikazi) April 13, 2023
Nandipha Magudumana, also known as Dr Nandi, who has also reportedly been arrested, was spotted with Bester in Sandton months after his escape. It was also revealed that she had collected the body of the deceased from the prison, as his wife. This after Bester had faked his own death by orchestrating a fire inside his Mangaung prison cell.
Investigative journalist Mzilikazi wa Afrika, who also broke the news, said on Twitter: “There was a warrant of arrest and it was executed and one suspect is still at large, I am told. And a third person, who transported the dead body to Mangaung, is also expected to be arrested soon.”
Police were scheduled to brief the media on the couple’s return to South Africa later on Thursday morning.
IOL