Durban - Police in Durban Central have arrested two suspects, one of them a teenager, and recovered two illegal firearms and various stolen goods, KwaZulu-Natal police said on Saturday.
Police officers from the Durban Central bike unit were conducting crime prevention operations in the CBD on Friday when they spotted two men carrying a backpack between Pine and Commercial roads, Colonel Thembeka Mbele said.
"It is alleged that when the men spotted the police officers, they fled on foot. Police officers gave chase and an 18-year-old suspect was arrested. When a search was conducted, police recovered a firearm, knife, bank cards belonging to a female, and other personal items."
After further investigating, police discovered that the items were stolen from a vehicle which was parked on Sydenham Road on August 22. The suspect was taken to Durban Central police station for detention and charged for possession of an unlicensed firearm, possession of dangerous weapon as well as possession of suspected stolen property.
He would also be linked to the case of theft out of a motor vehicle that was opened at the Berea police station. The suspect would appear in the Durban Magistrate's Court on Monday, Mbele said.
In an unrelated case, another firearm was recovered by Sydenham police from a 30-year-old suspect on Stanley Copley Road in Sydenham on Friday night. The suspect was arrested for possession of an unlicensed firearm and would also be charged with bribery after he offered police officers cash for his release.
He would also appear in the Durban Magistrate's Court on Monday. The recovered firearms would be sent for ballistic testing to determine whether they were used in the commission of any crime, Mbele said.