OSHAKATI - A young man was arrested on Monday at the offices of the Namibia Traffic Information System (NaTIS) in Oshakati after he tried to obtain roadworthiness documentation for a vehicle that was earlier rejected.

His foiled scam involved using the vehicles licence discs and a number plate of a vehicle that had already been certified roadworthy to secure certification for the vehicle which was turned down before.

The 22-year-old taxi driver claimed that he changed the vehicles licence discs and a number plate at the urging of his employer, it is alleged. Both the vehicles - Toyota Corolla sedans, imported from Botswana - have now been impounded and will be used as evidence in court.

It is alleged that last week, the suspect took a car for the roadworthiness test but it was rejected because of a cracked windscreen.

“He was told that if they returned the vehicle within seven days it would be retested for free,” explained Sam Shipiki, NaTIS Oshakati Acting Supervisor.

So on Monday, the suspect returned to NaTIS to have the car re-tested.

Unfortunately luck was not on his side when alert NaTIS officials discovered that the licence disc and the car registration number did not correspond with the chassis number.

In fact the discs and the car registration number matched those of a similar vehicle that was also taken to NaTIS for the same test recently.

When he was interrogated, the man confessed to having exchanged the particulars of the vehicle at the instruction of his boss who owns both vehicles.

Another employee then brought the vehicle that was rejected during the first roadworthiness test to NaTIS and the vehicle still had a cracked windscreen. The suspect was then arrested on the spot.

According to Shipiki, by law, people making themselves guilty of offences of that nature are not fined, instead they are completely at the mercy of the courts to decide their fate.

Shipiki urged other NaTIS officials to be vigilant of crimes of that nature, adding that if it was not for the competence of the officials, a vehicle that is not roadworthy could have ended up on the nation’s roads and put lives at risk.