Roof tile thief caught in the act

IT’S by no means a conventional method of a house burglary but three incidents in the last two weeks have highlighted that thieves have been removing roof tiles in order to gain access.

Two houses and one business has already been targeted. According to Lt Raymond Deokaran, spokesman for the Durban North SAPS, in the most recent incident on Stirling Crescent, the burglar was apprehended by the home owner who had come home to find a hole in the roof and the suspect in possession of stolen items.

“He was found in possession of more than R10 000 worth of jewellery. We believe he and an accomplice were also involved in another house break-in on the same road a week earlier. In that particular incident, the same modus operandi was used, and the suspects made off with jewellery, a laptop, a DVD player and other smaller items.

“They were obviously looking for smaller items that were easier to carry. In the third incident, thieves targeted a salon on Swapo (Broadway) Road. They stole a flat-screen TV but were unable to get it up to the roof, and as it crashed to the ground it damaged a coffee and card machine in the process,” he said.