EMPD crime round-up
As the new week begins, the media office of the Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Police Department (EMPD) issued a breakdown of the previous week's (ending October 19) crime blitz that yielded scores of arrests for a variety of crimes around Ekurhuleni ranging from vehicle thefts, house break-ins and narcotics.
According to the EMPD spokesperson, Kobedi Mokheseng, this was the EMPD’s busiest and most successful crime-fighting week in a long time.
“Members of the EMPD’s Specialised Task Team (STT) responded to a call on October 15. This follows a report about a parked sedan with three suspicious-looking male occupants just before midday at the corner of Ring Road and 7th Avenue in the Alberton area,” explained Mokheseng.He added that upon investigation, the sedan was reported stolen and the three men, between the ages of 30 and 49, were previously convicted of murder and were on the SAPS’s wanted list for attempted murder, common robbery and armed robbery in Alberton and Soshanguve. One of the men also had a murder case pending.
All three men were arrested and later handed over to the Alberton SAPS, where all three suspects were formally charged and detained.
On October 12, a white Hyundai i10 was reported as hijacked in Handel Street in Kempton Park West. The vehicle was recovered the following day in Endulweni section in Tembisa.
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Two suspects, aged 28 and 39, linked to the theft managed to evade police arrest, but one of the suspects was later caught. They were also found to be on the SAPS’s wanted suspects list for two counts of attempted murder, two counts of pointing of a firearm and numerous hijackings in the Norkem Park area.
The 28-year-old suspect finally ran out of luck on October 16 when he was cornered and arrested at his hiding place at around 3am. He was later transported to the Norkem Park SAPS Client Service Centre, where he was charged as an accomplice to the series of Handel Street hijackings.
The suspect was later also handed over to the local SAPS who detained him pending trial.
“In collaboration with a motor vehicle tracking company, our EMPD STT were alerted by the repeated signal of a reported stolen vehicle in the Johannesburg area, around Jeppestown.
“On arrival, the police uncovered what turned out to be a stolen vehicle chop shop and arrested a male Nigerian national they found inside the building. SAPS members specialising in stolen and recovered motor vehicles were summoned to the crime scene, where they found stripped motor vehicle parts, including two VW Polo headlights (reported stolen in Randburg this month), one Toyota Etios gearbox (reported stolen in Brixton, June this year), one gearbox casing (reported stolen in Florida, June this year), VW Polo engine, gearbox and loose parts (reported stolen in Honeydew this month),” said Mokheseng.
Meanwhile, just before midday on October 16, a police team patrolling the Edenvale area came across a white Bentley sedan with a personalised number plate on the R25 next to the Greenstone Shopping Centre. What was odd about the vehicle was that the licence disc and road clearance certificate displayed did not match.
The 30-year-old driver requested that he be escorted by the EMPD to the Sandringham Police Station because he told officers he had previously been a victim of a hijacking. The case was taken over by the SAPS, who thoroughly searched the vehicle.
“On October 17, just before 5am, a two-way radio message was received about a stolen Toyota Hilux in the Clayville area. Officers later tracked the vehicle to Main Road, where the tracker unit was found in a nearby veld.
“The dedicated team members continued searching and checking hot spots and at around 5.40am, the abandoned vehicle with false number plates was spotted next to Clayville Extension 45, outside a block of flats.
“SAPS forensic experts attended and took over the scene,” Mokheseng said.
On October 17 and 18 law enforcement reacted to house robbery complaints in the Norkem Park area.
EMPD STT and other law enforcement agencies, including the SAPS, attended to two failed house break-ins on October 17. Acting on a tip-off, between 2am and 5am the group moved to Vusimuzi informal settlement and Ethafeni section in Tembisa, five male suspects between the ages of 28 and 37 were found with two unaccounted for flatscreen televisions, more than 15 wrist watches, four cellphones, a few bank cards, baseballs caps and a necklace.
All the recovered items were positively identified as stolen following a series of house break-ins in and around the Norkem Park area. All five male suspects, from Mozambique, were detained at Norkem Park Police Station on charges of house robbery, possession of suspected stolen items and murder charges. They were expected to appear in the Kempton Park Magistrate’s Court on October 21.
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“On October 19 just after 3pm in the Eden Park area, following information received, the EMPD STT, Fox Security personnel, SAPS members and detectives and Magma Rapid Response arrested a Nigerian national with 20 blocks of khat weighing 2 505g and valued at R150 000 was confiscated.
“The place where the drugs was found could not be revealed at this stage,” he said.
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