Durban - A man was caught red-handed at the top of a Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (Prasa) communications tower on Matheran Road in the Avoca area of Durban attempting to steal metal parts on Tuesday.
Marshall Security managing director Tyron Powell said at approximately 11.40am the Emergency Dispatch Centre received a call from a client reporting that they had noticed a suspect tampering with a communications tower owned by Prasa.
Powell said multiple armed response officers were immediately dispatched to the scene.
He said when officers arrived, they found the suspect high up on the tower attempting to dismantle and steal metal pieces from it.
“On instruction from our armed response officers to come down from the tower, the suspect started making his way down slowly and then jumped over a nearby wall,” said Powell.
In the video the man is seen making his way down the tower. He then climbs across and jumps from the lower end of the high tower over a wall
Powell said after landing on the other side of the wall, the suspect fled on foot in an attempt to escape.
“However, this did not stop our dedicated armed response officers and after a short foot chase through the dense surrounding bush, the suspect was arrested,” he said.
According to Powell, Prasa were informed about the incident and arrived on the scene a short while later.
“The suspect was handed over to the Greenwood Park SAPS and will be facing charges of attempted theft and malicious damage to state infrastructure,” he said.
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