Durban — Police and a private security company arrested one suspect and discovered a suspected ‘chop shop’ when searching for a stolen Toyota Hilux.
ET Rapid Response managing director Tony Lokker said that the incident happened on Monday in Mfume.
Lokker said that members of their Tactical Response Team, together with Matrix tracking, Umkomaas SAPS crime prevention, and SAPS Umzinto K9, responded to the Mfume area after a tracking device for a Toyota Hilux stolen from the Bluff area was activated.
“Members recovered the stolen vehicle, stripped to pieces, together with multiple car parts that are believed to be stripped from stolen vehicles.
“One suspect was arrested, and another Toyota Fortuner found on the premises was also seized for further investigation purposes,” Lokker said.
Police spokesperson Colonel Robert Netshiunda said that Umkomaas police arrested a 39-year-old suspect for being in possession of suspected stolen goods after he was found loading motor vehicle parts in his vehicle in the Umkomaas area on Monday.
“After failing to produce proof of ownership, he was duly arrested,” Netshiunda said.
He said the suspect was expected to appear in court on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, last month, when delivering the quarter 3 crime statistics, Police Minister Bheki Cele said that 52 711 people were arrested for various crimes including murder, sexual offences, assaults, carjackings as well as other serious crimes, during the festive season.
In an unrelated incident in the same vicinity last year, a joint operation was conducted in the Danganya area in Umkomaas after police officers were alerted to a vehicle that was hijacked and hidden at premises in the area.
“Upon spotting police, the suspects fled in different directions. Police managed to arrest a 39-year-old suspect who was caught at the premises. Police recovered a vehicle that was hijacked in Pietermaritzburg … It is alleged that the driver was hijacked in Pietermaritzburg and was later dropped off in the Cato Manor where he managed to seek assistance and report the matter. Another vehicle was found at the same premises and it was established that it was stolen in aManzimtoti in March 2021,” spokesperson Nqobile Gwala said.
“Further inspection was done in the yard and the team recovered two bakkie load bins hidden behind the house. The initial investigation revealed that stolen vehicles were being stripped at the same premises,” she said.
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