Police in Gisagara have recovered 10 laptops that were stolen from Kansi Secondary School last weekend.

Two people including a senior five student at Kansi Secondary School identified as Ignace Ndabamenye, 24, and a security guard called Marc Nshimiyimana, 35, have since been taken into custody in connection with the act.

The duo, in the night of October 16, allegedly broke into the school’s computer laboratory and stole eleven laptops.

Police spokesperson for the Southern Province, Chief Inspector of Police (CIP) André Hakizimana, said: "On October 17, the school administration lodged a complaint to police about the theft of 11 laptops the previous night, and the first suspect – the security guard Nshimiyimana, who was on duty that night – was immediately arrested.”

He added: "Later that day, we held a meeting with the parents and all the residents in the area to facilitate the investigations. Shortly after the meeting, an elderly woman in her early 80s called his son, who is also a village chief in the area and told him that a student at the school had kept things in her house. When they checked, they found all the recovered laptops and that’s how Ndabamenye was also arrested later as he came back to collect his luggage,” said Hakizimana.

 Suspected student narrates

The suspected student, who police say is collaborating in the investigations, reportedly told police that on the fateful day, the security guard called him seeking information on the status of the laptops.

Later that day, they agreed on how to steal them and at about 11pm, the security guard broke into the computer lab and parked all the laptops in a sack and hid them behind the school toilet, where the student picked them at about4:00am and took them to the house of the elderly woman near the school, as instructed.

Meanwhile, the elderly woman said that at first she thought the sack contained tiles but became suspicious after the meeting, which prompted her to seek help from her son to verify the luggage.

Hakizimana commended the woman and the residents for their efforts in facilitating successful investigations and appealed to everyone with information on any theft or mismanagement of school equipment and resources, to always come forward.