PRIVATE security personnel and police have arrested three men linked to a vehicle theft syndicate in the Bluff area, south of Durban, on Thursday morning.
The role players involved were ET Rapid Response, Bluff Community Policing Forum (CPF), Brighton Beach police and the eThekwini metro police street crime unit and south crime prevention.
ET Rapid Response managing director Tony Lokker said at 7.30am they received information through the Bluff CPF that a Toyota Hilux was spotted in the Bluff, sought by SAPS on a vehicle crime investigation units (VCIU) inquiry.
Lokker said ET Rapid Response contacted officers from VCIU who confirmed the vehicle was still being sought for inquiry.
“Members from our ET Rapid Response TRT managed to locate the vehicle with three occupants along Foreshore Drive, Brighton Beach, and requested SAPS and metro police assistance,” Lokker said.
He said once police arrived, the occupants and the vehicle were searched and officers found:
“An illegal handheld radio, fully programmed with SAPS channels, car breaking implements, a second set of licence plates not matching the vehicle, objects used for the theft of motor vehicles such as various computer boxes, ignitions, ignition keys, OBD readers etcetera,” Lokker said.
He added all three suspects were arrested and the items were seized for further investigative purposes.
Police had not commented by the time of publication.
Meanwhile, two brothers, aged 19 and 25, were arrested on Wednesday night by Brighton Beach detectives while assisted by the Provincial Organised Crime Investigations (Narcotics), Crime Intelligence and Metro police.
The police were searching for suspects wanted for robbery cases that were committed in the Brighton Beach area. When they were arrested, two firearms and a vehicle suspected to be used in the commission of the crime was seized by police.
“The two suspects are linked to two cases of robbery that occurred in the Brighton Beach policing area last month and this month. It is alleged that two people were robbed of their cellphones and belongings. The suspects will be profiled to check if they are linked to other robbery cases committed in the province,” Mbele said.
They are expected to appear before the Durban Magistrates Court on Friday on charges of robbery.
To comment on this story send a WhatsApp message to our BackChat column on 071 485 7995
Daily News