Police nab men of steel

ROSEBANK – Police have apprehended two suspects, one of them a security guard, after they were found in possession of stolen property.

Police spokesperson Sergeant Bongi Mdletshe said police were patrolling in the Rosebank area in the early morning hours of 17 March.

“They noticed a suspicious man pushing a large trolley at the intersection of Smith Street and Oxford Road and questioned the suspect,” he said.

The 21-year-old suspect allegedly told police officers that he was going to sell the structural reinforcement steel in the trolley, however when he was asked where he got the materiel from, the suspect could not explain himself.

“Police further interrogated the suspect who revealed he got the reinforcement steel from a security guard,” said Mdletshe.

Police then proceeded to where the security officer was and questioned him.

Mdletshe said, “Initially, he denied any knowledge of the stolen property, but upon further investigation, police discovered he had been in communication with the man found in possession of the property, through his cellphone.”

The two suspects were arrested and are expected to appear in the Hillbrow Magistrate’s Court on charges of suspected stolen property and theft. Police also notified a Dunkeld construction company, where the steel originated from.

The steel was presumably going to be sold as scrap metal, an industry which is estimated to generate up to R20 billion per year.