DURBAN - Police officers found a robber hiding underneath a car after two home invasions were reported in Pinetown on Thursday.
Mobi-Claw911 (MC911) emergency rescue service spokesperson Mike Myers reported that an on-duty policeman patrolling the Cowies Hill area near Pinetown activated his MC911 panic button, after he was stopped by a resident who informed him that they were looking for suspects that had invaded a home a few minutes earlier and used a knife to threaten the victims.
The MC911 incident manager immediately broadcast the incident to various responders in the area via the MC911 Cyber Control.
Myers said the policeman knew that Mobi-Claw911 could summon the assistance of security companies and volunteers in the area to assist and used his MC911 panic button.
Within minutes two security companies, a number of volunteers, SAPS Pinetown and MC911 management were in the area searching for the suspects.
Moments later a report was received of a second home invasion in progress in the same area. Myers said responders immediately rushed to the scene.
The alleged house robberies took place in Ormiston Road and the other in Balfour Road.
Myers said a SAPS member and MC911 operations director Wynand Laatz noticed a suspect, gave chase and managed to arrest him.
“Wynand then carried on searching for the other suspects and came across a parked car. He looked under the car, where he discovered another of the suspects who had bolt cutters strapped to his back. Wynand managed to detain the suspect and handed him over to SAPS.”
A third suspect managed to escape.
Myers said a police investigation will follow and they are hoping this will lead to the arrest of the outstanding suspect
“We are also hoping that these suspects are linked to a spate of home invasions in the Westville and Cowies Hill area, which have terrorised residents for months and kept the neighbourhood watch members very busy.”
Myers sent out a huge thank you to South African Police Service, the security companies and volunteers that responded, which resulted in two speedy arrests.
Daily News