Police bust nets suspected stolen chemicals worth millions

Durban police have recovered suspected stolen chemicals worth millions.

In a statement released on Saturday, police spokesperson Colonel Thembeka Mbhele said Hilton Flying Squad officials and detectives from the Maydon Wharf police station confiscated the chemicals on Wednesday. It is believed that the chemicals were stolen from the Durban harbour.

Five people were arrested.

Mbhele said that detectives had been investigating the August theft of the chemicals.

“The owner of the goods stated that these items were stolen directly from a cargo vessel in the Durban harbour. The goods were not taken to his factory. Instead, they were taken to a secret warehouse in Cato Ridge were the packaging was changed and [they were] sold on the grey market for farming and industrial use,” Mbhele said.

In a separate statement released on September 1, KwaZulu-Natal police said two people had been arrested for the theft of fertiliser, valued at R2.6m, from the Durban harbour.

“It is alleged that after the fertiliser was offloaded from a vessel at the harbour. It was stolen by the suspects,” Lieutenant Colonel Thulani Zwane said in the statement.

Investigations led the police officers to Clairwood where the fertiliser was seized.

Mbhele could not say whether the cases were connected.

News24

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