Tackling serious crime is all in a day’s work for the members of the Ekurhuleni West SAPS Trio Task Team.
Capt Ivan Els, the group leader for the task team, said they oversee 12 police stations in the Ekurhuleni West Cluster, namely, Bedfordview, Primrose, Germiston, Elsburg, Alberton, Brackendowns, Katlehong North, Thokoza, Eden Park, Vosloorus, Zonkizizwe and Katlehong.
The detectives each manage approximately 15 dockets a month.
Els said the cases are serious contact crimes namely hijackings and business and house robberies.
“We step in when people are directly threatened, such as being tied up,” said Els.
He said when it comes to court cases bail is out of their hands.
With regard to Bedfordview, Els said the area is mainly affected by house robberies.
The task team recently secured two excellent convictions.
In the first case, a man was arrested for possession of an unlawful firearm and unlawful ammunition in Vosloorus.
The firearm was reported stolen in Vosloorus in July last year and the suspect was nabbed in September last year.
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He appeared in the Boksburg Regional Court and was found guilty and sentenced to 15 years for the possession of an unlawful firearm and five years for the possession of unlawful ammunition.
“We are extremely pleased with this sentence,” said Els.
In the second success, the trio task team arrested nine suspects in connection with a spate of petrol station robberies in August 2016.
Three were arrested in Diepkloof in Soweto, and the others were arrested at the Jeppe and Denver hostels.
During the arrests two firearms were recovered at the hostels, as well as stolen property.
The case was heard in the Germiston Regional Court.
Four of the accused were found guilty on two counts of business robbery on November 5 and were each sentenced to 15 years in prison.
The other five were granted bail and three of these suspects had their cases withdrawn as they couldn’t be linked to the robberies, while the other two have warrants of arrest issued for them and police officers are trying to locate them.
A number of other successes for the task team include:
• A six-year conviction for attempted hijacking passed down in the Germiston Regional Court on November 6.
• Two business robbery convictions with six-year sentences for the culprits.
• Two theft of motor vehicle cases with five-year sentences for the culprits.
• A case of perjury where the guilty party was released on a warning.
• A possession of a stolen motor vehicle case where the guilty party was sentenced to five years in prison.
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