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Pretoria - A robbery at the FIFA headquarters in Johannesburg was confirmed by national police commissioner General Bheki Cele on Tuesday.
"Yes we know there was burglary there. We are looking into it," Cele told a national press club briefing in Pretoria.
He said seven trophy replicas and two jerseys had been taken during the incident which led police to believe that the crime was perpetrated by people familiar with the offices.
It was not immediately clear when the incident took place.
Meanwhile Cele said since the start of the World Cup 316 people had been arrested, 207 of them South Africans, for tournament related crime.
He said 109 of those arrests were of foreign nationals with Ethiopians topping the list at 11.
They were followed by Algerians (nine), UK citizens (eight), six people each from Mozambique, Zimbabwe, the US and Pakistan, five people from Argentina and four Slovakians.
Negligence
"It's the United Nations of crime," he quipped to much laughter.
Cele said 90% of the arrests had been in connection with theft and by far the majority of these cases could be attributed to negligence on the part of the lawful owner.
This was as many cellphones and laptops had been left unattended and then stolen.
He said police were also increasing their vigilance outside the stadiums as to date 29 cases of unauthorised ticket scalping had been reported.
"Thirty three persons have been arrested in these cases of which 14 are South African and 19 are citizens of other countries," he said.
"Yes we know there was burglary there. We are looking into it," Cele told a national press club briefing in Pretoria.
He said seven trophy replicas and two jerseys had been taken during the incident which led police to believe that the crime was perpetrated by people familiar with the offices.
It was not immediately clear when the incident took place.
Meanwhile Cele said since the start of the World Cup 316 people had been arrested, 207 of them South Africans, for tournament related crime.
He said 109 of those arrests were of foreign nationals with Ethiopians topping the list at 11.
They were followed by Algerians (nine), UK citizens (eight), six people each from Mozambique, Zimbabwe, the US and Pakistan, five people from Argentina and four Slovakians.
Negligence
"It's the United Nations of crime," he quipped to much laughter.
Cele said 90% of the arrests had been in connection with theft and by far the majority of these cases could be attributed to negligence on the part of the lawful owner.
This was as many cellphones and laptops had been left unattended and then stolen.
He said police were also increasing their vigilance outside the stadiums as to date 29 cases of unauthorised ticket scalping had been reported.
"Thirty three persons have been arrested in these cases of which 14 are South African and 19 are citizens of other countries," he said.
