Members of the Community Crime Prevention Organisation (CCPO) were left scratching their heads when repeated sting operations to apprehend a robber in St Winifreds left them empty-handed.
“There have been a spate of house breakings in the area in the afternoon,” said CCPO operations manager, Leon Joone. “We set up operations with plain-clothed members in the area to catch the thief, to no avail.”
On Friday, 6 November the wily thief was seen leaving a Poinsettia Place premises by a neighbour, who phoned the CCPO. He was apprehended near the Engen garage on the R603 and handed over to Toti SAPS.
“Further investigation revealed he lived in the area and he knew all our members, that’s why our operations weren’t successful,” said Leon.
In a separate incident on Monday, 9 November, a pair of thieves were arrested hours apart after two different house breakings.
“A member of the public stopped one of our patrols at about 11am and pointed out two suspicious-looking men walking on Kingsway in Athlone Park,” said Leon.
The men ran onto the beach near the golf course with the CCPO, Blue Security, Metro Police dog handler Shaun Jooste and ET Rapid Response in hot pursuit.
One man was caught on the beach by the CCPO, Blue Security and ET and a laptop and cellphone recovered. He was handed over to Toti SAPS.
“Unfortunately the second man escaped. A short while later we were called to a housebreaking in Wavecrest Road. Once again the CCPO, Blue Security, Shaun and ET security flooded the area. The man was chased towards Isipingo, where he was caught by the CCPO.
It was the same thief who got away a couple of hours earlier. He decided to come back, but this time his luck ran out.”
