DUrban - Highly skilled detectives and armed police reinforcements will be immediately deployed to the Outer West areas to quell the surge in violent house robberies which has claimed at least two lives and left many seriously injured in recent weeks.
Residents have been under siege by four violent gangs - the Panga Gang, Finger Gang, Whoonga Gang and Gate Crashers - since January. Seven arrests have taken place in the past two weeks.
Even as police moved, home invaders this morning stabbed a man to death in his Voortrekker Road, Ashley home and another house robbery in Gillitts was reported.
Police were searching for a Nissan bakkie taken from the stabbed man, which had a tracking device.
Steven Duckworth, of the Waterfall Community Police Forum, said according to reports he had received the man was found tied to a chair.
In a different incident early yesterday morning a family were tied up and assaulted by armed robbers at their Valley Drive, Forest Hills home. Duckworth said their house had also been ransacked and the robbers had made off with two of their vehicles and household items.
The Tactical Response Team (TRT), crime intelligence and highly skilled investigators would work around the clock to restore peace in the area, KZN police commissioner Lieutenant Mmamonnye Ngobeni, said at a press briefing at the Pinetown police station, this morning.
“Criminals will be cornered, prosecuted and sent to jail,” Ngobeni reassured the community.
The additional deployments would remain in the area until peace and order prevailed, Ngobeni said.
She condemned the high levels of violence and criminality in the Pinetown cluster, which incorporates Hillcrest and Kloof.
She said provincial police management had conducted a fact-finding mission this week in a bid to find speedy solutions and to deal with hard core criminals that threatened communities.
She said anarchy by criminals would not be tolerated and vowed to fight tooth and nail to root out criminals. She appealed to the communities to support their crime fighting efforts by sharing information with police and testifying in court so that “thugs are put behind bars permanently”.
She said quality investigation would be the order of the day to ensure swift justice.
Nikki Moolman of the Kloof CPF welcomed the additional deployments and increased visibility.
“This a welcome relief. Maybe we can sleep better at night now. We have been living in fear for our lives since January.”
Shaun Lyle, chairman of the Hillcrest Park Neighbourhood Watch described the mood in the Upper Highway area as tense.
“We are all living in fear for our lives. It has become a case of who is going to be next. These criminals have us under siege. They are relentless.”
He said that while it was “nice to know” that additional police resources would be deployed to the area, he would only believe it when he saw it.
“The cops are acting now because of the media pressure. If they had acted more than a month ago when the Daily News highlighted our plight and brought to their attention the different gangs operating in the area, Rodney Bradley would be alive,” he said.
“Instead police denied the gang were operating. It made it seem like we were exaggerating the situation. This is not paranoia, it is the real deal. Our lives are in danger.”
Duckworth said they welcomed the additional police resources.
He appealed to communities to get involved in community police forums.
“Criminals are feeding off our fear. We need to take a stand and fight back.”
Daily News