A hand sticking out of a retail store’s ceiling gave a thief away on Friday after he had been missed by the police eight hours earlier.
However, his luck in the hot ceiling ran out when the owner of Greenland Wholesaler next to the civic centre, Nuno, spotted his hand while police officers were dusting the premises for finger prints.
Rogerio De Oliveira told the story on Kempton Express’ Facebook page and even added a collage of pictures.
Nuno was awoken by several alarm activations at 4am on Friday morning. He was assisted by Smart Security and the police when he arrived at his business several minutes after the alert.
They scouted the premises and were lucky to find several cigarettes which had been left in the ceiling. No culprits were found at this time.
Almost eight hours later, W/O MJ Molokomme was dusting the premises for finger prints when Nuno asked him if he had a colleague assisting him, as he had spotted a hand inside the ceiling.
It was then that they realised the perpetrator was still inside the roof. The would be thief surrendered and climbed out peacefully due to the heat of the day. He was dehydrated and Wayne Walker from Smart Security was kind enough to give the perpetrator some water.
An angry crowd was waiting to hand out some of their own justice and condemned Walker for giving the thief water. The police was rapidly on the scene and brought calm to the situation.
The burglar was formally apprehended by the police and Smart Security.
Greenland Wholesaler has since moved its premises to 48 Monument Road. The owner says that this was his going away present.
Thief on roof was in fact the earthquake
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Burglar hides under bed with his loot
