By Anna Shilongo WINDHOEK Informed sources in the Rietoog/Schlip areas now say there may be a link between the murder of Ellis Tjipueja and the death of a so far unidentified farm worker on the farm Linshof 369. These sources suggest that while the motives for the murders may have differed, there are strong indications the same criminal gang carried out the killings. In the case of the farm worker found buried under goat dung at Linshof farm, the reason for the murder may have been a mundane case of stock theft. In the case of former Development Fund of Namibia employee, Tjipueja, speculation is that his assailants robbed him of a reasonably large sum of cash. Sources in the area claim Tjipueja’s pickup truck was seen on Linshof farm. They allege police investigating the Linshof farm murder took samples of tyre tracks found on the farm, but there is no confirmation of whether tyre tracks from Tjipueja’s pickup are among them. Police in the meantime are believed to have arrested two suspects in connection with the Tjipueja murder. New Era knows the names of the two suspects, but cannot publish them because it is still unclear whether or not the State has formally charged them in court. Attempts to reach Police Media Liaison Officer, Chief Inspector Angula Amulungu, for comment yesterday proved unsuccessful, while his deputy Sergeant Nuuyi did not know the latest developments having just returned from the north. Police allegedly arrested one of the two suspects last Monday, while he was cowering under a bed at a house in Rehoboth, while they arrested the second suspect later in the week. Local sources say that on Saturday June 16 – only two days after the discovery of the farm worker’s body on Linshof farm – they saw one suspect driving Tjipueja’s vehicle around in Rehoboth. It caught many people’s attention because people knew the suspect did not to have a driving licence. There is a widely circulated report that Tjipueja’s wife received an sms text message telling her not to worry, saying a business deal with some Americans had delayed him. The message also informed her a friend of his would bring his pickup truck to her in Windhoek. Whether this text message genuinely came from Tjipueja is unclear. The criminals may well have perpetrated a cruel hoax on her, knowing her husband was already dead. The suspect nevertheless delivered the vehicle as promised, although the vehicle was by this time dented in several places. He allegedly also had Tjipueja’s empty wallet in his pocket – earlier believed to have contained a large sum of cash. Locals further say they often saw people driving around Rietoog in Tjipueja’s pickup truck – but mysteriously only at night. They also regularly saw four or five men with the pickup under the Rietoog Bridge – “everybody in Rietoog knows about the bakkie under the bridge”. Meanwhile, family members have poured cold water on a report in a local newspaper suggesting a greedy uncle grabbed the late Tjipueja’s ATM card in an attempt to grab whatever cash he had left. Family members point out the police requested the ATM card so that they could use it for tracing his – and possibly his killers’ – movements as part of the investigation. They also complained bitterly about the headline to the story, which they feel deliberately suggested a family member killed Tjipueja, but then failed to provide even the tiniest bit of circumstantial evidence to back the claim.