S. Africa's defence ministry denies exposure of sensitive information
Xinhua, January 11, 2016 Adjust font size:
The Ministry of Defence on Monday denied allegations that sensitive information has been exposed following the theft of 50 laptops from the department's intellegence headquarters in Pretoria.
The laptops were all new, with no information on them, and were stolen just after they were delivered, spokesperson Siphiwe Dlamini said.
The military police are continuing with their investigations into the theft that took place during the Christmas holiday, almost the same day when foreign currency worth 50 million rand (about 3.2 million U.S. dollars) was stolen on December 26 from the South African Ministry of State Security in Pretoria.
The Ministry of Defence has been accused of deliberately trying to keep the theft a secret and not reporting it to law enforcement agencies.
The City Press newspaper reported earlier that the stolen computers were used by the country's spies.
"This is a serious embarrassment to the country," an intelligence insider told the newspaper.
"Luckily, many of the computers were brand new and did not have much information stored on them,"the insider was quoted as saying. Endit