VIGILANT members of the Illovo Beach community together with reaction units saw two cable thieves chased down and caught red-handed on Monday night, 23 July.
Oceans Restaurant owner Brendon Jordens appreciated the swift response after he raised the alarm when he received word about the thieves’ presence at about 8pm.
“I was at the restaurant when a friend, Sean Stannard called and alerted me about two alleged copper thieves on the railway tracks, some 200m from where I was,” said Brendon. “I sent out a message on the Illovo Crime Watch Whatsapp group and called ET, Blue Security and CCPO, as I wasn’t sure that I’d be able to go out myself. A few minutes later, I rushed down to the tracks where I saw the two cable thieves jump on a train. Sean, who had alerted me earlier jumped on the train with them, keeping tabs on where they were headed.”
Brendon, together with the reaction units following him, drove north as this was where Sean, who was liaising with him from the train, said they were heading.
“The train stopped at the Winklespruit station but only for a few minutes, then we followed on to the Warner Beach station,” he explained. “Sean jumped off and alerted the armed response units about where the thieves were. They were then arrested.”
Brendon suspected the copper thieves were on whoonga, and cautioned the public that when in a situation with possibly dangerous criminals, to not directly intervene in detaining them but rather call qualified and experienced armed response units while they hold observation, without putting themselves at risk.
“When we proceeded to Warner Beach station, we managed to get the train driver to wait while they searched it,” said CCPO’s George Snodey. “After searching the train Logan and Hendrik found the suspects with the stolen cable. They were arrested and detained at Toti SAPS.”
DID YOU KNOW?
Click on the words highlighted in red to read more on this and related topics.Â
To receive news links via WhatsApp, send an invite to 061 694 6047
The South Coast Sun is also on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest – why not join us there?
Do you have more information pertaining to this story?
Feel free to let us know by commenting on our Facebook page or you can contact our newsroom on 031 903 2341 and speak to a journalist.
(Comments posted on this issue may be used for publication in the Sun)
