Eight arrested in Durban North vagrant raid

A RUSTED panga, thought to have been used in one of the armed robberies of cyclists on Riverside Road, was recovered in a police raid on vagrant settlements throughout Durban North and uMhlanga this morning. The weapon also had cloth wrapped around it to act as a makeshift handle, and was found in the bushes on Riverside Road.

This was a joint operation between Crisis Medical, Durban Solid Waste, the SAPS Tactical Response team as well as residents and members of the Durban North/Umhlanga Community Policing Forum and local councillor, Shaun Ryley.

Eight vagrants were arrested and detained and four settlements were destroyed and dismantled in the operation, which covered the La Lucia and uMhlanga taxi ranks, the Beachwood Mangroves and Riverside Road near the M4 bridge, which was the scene of five armed muggings this year.

Police began the raid at 6am to dismantle the structures that had been built deep in the thicket of the mangroves and the disused nature trail along Riverside Road.

“The eight vagrants we detained will be fingerprinted and profiled to see if we can match them to any crimes in the area. One of the men we detained said he was from Dundee and had nowhere to sleep, so he chose the bushes to sleep in while he looked for work.

“The raid is part of an ongoing initiative to root out vagrants from the area, as we believe there is a criminal element among the vagrants,” explained Lt Raymond Deokaran, spokesman for the Durban North SAPS.