CHIEF Inspector Simeon Nghilalulwa, one of the investigating officers in the Namib Desert Diamonds (NAMDIA) heist, said that one of the accused, who is currently applying for bail in the matter, Joel Angula, had placed a piece of paper over one of the cameras on the NAMDIA premises to create a blind spot, enabling him to sneak two of the other accused persons onto the premises, namely Sam Shololo and the deceased Max Endjala.
Angula, a former protection officer at NAMDIA, stands accused of several counts ranging from murder to theft in the diamond heist that took place at the state diamond enterprise on 18 January 2025, whereby diamonds worth N$314.9 million were stolen. To date, the investigating officer said that a total of N$295 million worth of diamonds are still missing.
The investigating officer said that witness statements from one of the other protection officers, Wenzel Dreyer, and another NAMDIA employee, identified as Tanya, indicated that the camera had been deliberately covered with a piece of paper on the lens to stop it from recording.
“The camera captured the view along the boundary wall between the residential flats and the NAMDIA premises,” Nghilalulwa said.
This camera also viewed the western parking lot.
“When we asked them what the reason behind it was, they stated that Angula felt that that camera was violating the privacy of the residents staying in the flats. We asked if this was reported to management or if anybody had complained of privacy. They said no to both questions,” Nghilalulwa said.
He added that what was of interest to this investigation is that Angula, on 18 January 2025, the date of the heist, reported for duty and arrived at the NAMDIA premises around 13:16. Nghilalulwa said that at first Angula parked his vehicle near the northern parking bay, next to the guard house.
“After 15 minutes he went to remove that car again. He reverse-parked it next to the wall. This is the boundary wall between the residential flats and the NAMDIA premises; where he went to park the car the second time was on the blind spot. The blind spot created by the obstruction of the lens of the camera…. Five minutes later, the cameras picked up the motion of the figures of Max Endjala and Sam Shololo coming from the car. They entered the guard house where Joel Angula was seated. We viewed all those CCTV cameras, whereby we cannot pick up how the two, Endjala and Sam Shololo, came into the NAMDIA premises. The only access point was in the vehicle of Joel Angula,” the police officer said.
It is further reported that Angula’s vehicle had dark tinted windows.
He further said that during the processing of the crime scene around 21:00 in the evening, the CEO, Alisa Amupolo, was asked to show certain points. She, however, referred them to Joel Angula. However, Joel was not there.
“For three hours after the robbery he was nowhere to be found on the NAMDIA premises whilst he was supposed to be guiding police officers through the scene,” Nghilalulwa said.
He further noted that a search was conducted on the premises of Angula after all these suspicious activities, and that:
“Upon his arrival he opened his flat himself. The flat had one burglar door and one wooden door, which was found locked and fully intact. When they opened the door they started the search, whereby they came across a Checkers shopping bag that was tied with a knot. There was also another Choppies red plastic bag. They also found safety boots, in which they found 13 zip-lock transparent plastic bags that contained unpolished diamonds. Everything was photographed as it was found. The reason why they believed the diamonds were from NAMDIA is that they had green stickers with batch numbers. They also found a diamond testing machine. All these things were found in the presence of Joel Angula. After being photographed, everything was sealed in a forensic bag,” Nghilalulwa said.
