Police warn about the rise of crime in Three Rivers

VEREENIGING. – The Vereeniging Police spokesperson captain Fikile Funda sends out a strong warning regarding the rise of crime, in particular house-breaking and house robberies in Three Rivers.

Funda urges the community to beef up security around their residences in order to prevent easy access for robbers.

“I would like to urge our residents to insure that they have water tight security measures in place in their homes as perpetrators are now targeting the Three Rivers area. Security doors must remain locked at all times.”

Funda said that police visibility in the area had been increased. “Police are in the area, however they are not stagnant. They are conducting patrols and also doing stop and searches.”

The warning comes after a recent housebreaking in Three Rivers, where robbers managed to gain entrance into a resindence.

“It is alleged that the husband was outside doing the garden the wife and the daughter were seating in the kitchen, the helper was in her room and two grand-kids were outside playing.

Two suspects managed to gain entrance through an open door, tied the wife and the daughter with telephone cords and subsequently ransacked the house.”

Funda says a neighbour who was alerted entered the house. “It is reported that he (the neighbour) was approached by suspects, stabbed on the head and body before he was also tied up by the suspects.”

Funda says that it is further reported that the suspects took appliances in the house, loaded them into the Nissan bakkie they were driving, after which they loaded others in the the Isuzu bakkie of the neighbor and subsequently fled the scene using the neighbors bakkie and leaving their vehicle on the scene.”

“The Isuzu was later found abandoned in Palmsprings. One of the suspects, the owner of the car that was left at the scene has been arrested and positively identified at a parade by the victims after he tried to open a case with the police, alleging that he had been hijacked. Investigations in the matter are ongoing.”