Durban - OVER the next few days law enforcers in the eManzimtoti area will continue to search and collect property stolen by an alleged thief that was recently arrested.
The suspect cooperated with law enforcers on Tuesday and Wednesday after he was arrested after breaking into a complex on Sunday.
So far, four brushcutters, two laptops, a TV and a bicycle were recovered from KwaMakhutha and uMlazi, south of Durban, where the suspect had allegedly sold them.
On Tuesday and Wednesday the man had led members of the Community Crime Prevention Organisation (CCPO), ET Rapid Response and Toti Criminal Investigation Department to KwaMakhutha and uMlazi where he had sold the stolen property.
ET Rapid Response managing director, Tony Lokker, said that so far the suspect had been positively linked to six house break-ins, stretching over a long period.
Lokker also said the investigation was still ongoing.
“Possibly tomorrow (Friday) or on Monday we will go out and look for more exhibits,” said Lokker.
CCPO spokesperson George Snodey said about two months ago they had arrested a man for stealing two brushcutters from a complex. The man was still in custody and they knew that whoever was stealing brushcutters now was someone different.
“We had two complexes that were hit and we know it’s not the same guy because he’s in custody. This guy got through the roof and took brushcutters from two different complexes, including the same two that had been recovered previously,” said Snodey.
“Overall three different complexes had their brushcutters stolen and we recovered one from each complex.”
Snodey said they recovered a lot of property from the people who bought it but they were still waiting for more because some of the people that had bought the property were not at home but they left them messages.
Meanwhile, Snodey said on Wednesday he was looking for something in SAPS 13, where all stolen property is kept. He saw a number of bicycles and decided to put out a message on Facebook.
“So far two people have come forward and said they were sure those were their bicycles and they would go there today (Thursday) to be 100% sure,” said Snodey.
He said because Bobbi Bear had a pink bicycle that was recently stolen, he also sent a photograph to Bobbi Bear but he was told that none of the bicycles in the photograph were theirs.
Bobbi Bear founder and director Jackie Branfield confirmed that a few weeks ago six bicycles were stolen from their garden shed which was made out of concrete and had a gate. They even had video footage of the incident.
“The children were beside themselves,” said Branfield.
She said the bicycles were there for all the children.
However, Branfield said the Toti community banded together and bought six new bicycles for the children.