BRIGHTON Beach police arrested a Zimbabwean man on Tuesday, 22 July, three days after an armed robbery in which more than R180,000 was stolen from a Bluff home.
On the evening of Saturday, 19 July seven people were held up in their home in Donnelly Road by three armed men. They were forced to the ground and made to lie face down, while the house was ransacked. The three men fled with R188,000 in cash, six mobile phones and two flat screen TVs.
Local criminal record centre specialists collected DNA evidence and police began the investigation immediately. Warrant Officer Gerhard Grobler visited the scene, questioned the victims and neighbours and sent out requests to known informers.
On Monday, 21 July, one of these informers told W/O Grobler that one of the men was at another house on the Bluff, along with some of the stolen items. Following an overnight stake-out of the house, the officers moved in at about 1am on 22 July and found the two stolen TVs and three passports for the man, two of which were fake. R2,000 of the stolen cash was also found in a silver Mercedes Benz belonging to the man, a 30-year-old Zimbabwean.
He appeared in Durban Regional Court on Thursday, 24 July and was sent to Westville Prison pending further investigations. Police have confirmed that the Mercedes Benz has been used in other crimes.
“Networking with our community contributes toward detectives obtaining information that assists us in tracking perpetrators of violent crimes. I appreciate the co-operation I received from our community that assisted me in my investigation. I ask any person who has information on criminal activities to report this to their local police station or contact the Crime Stop hotline on 08600-10111,” said W/O Grobler.
