DURBAN - A joint stock theft operation conducted by the Directorate of Priority Crime Investigation and Magma Security and Investigations in the KwaZulu-Natal Midlands was a big success after wildlife, cattle carcasses, 250kg of dagga and a stolen vehicle were recovered.
The three-hour operation was carried out early on Monday morning in different areas in the Midlands.
Police spokesperson Colonel Thembeka Mbhele said three suspects were arrested for being in possession of protected species without a permit in Mid-Illovo.
“One warthog and three female bushbuck were found in the vehicle. A rifle and spotlight were also seized,” said Mbhele.
Mbhele said the team spotted another vehicle on the same road, but the suspects made a U-turn and sped off into the sugar cane fields, where they immediately abandoned the vehicle and fled into the nearby bushes.
“Three slaughtered cattle were found inside the vehicle,” she said.
A preliminary investigation conducted by police at the scene revealed that the vehicle was stolen in the Durban North area in October last year.
Mbhele said a 38-year-old man was arrested along the R603 on Umbumbulu Road during the operation, after he was found in possession of plastic bags containing dagga.
Magma’s head of investigations, Shaheen Suleiman, said 200 plastic bags containing dagga were concealed in the bumper and door panels of the man’s Black Chevrolet Aveo in Eston.
He said another vehicle containing 50 bags of dagga was intercepted in Highflats. The suspects escaped from the vehicle.
“The bags were concealed in various places in the bakkie: underneath the vehicle, tied to the chassis with wire, and in the engine,” said Suleiman.
The suspects who escaped are still being sought by the police.