A homeless man was arrested on Thursday last week after being caught with a manhole cover he allegedly stole in Aston Manor.
An alert Concourse Crescent resident spotted the suspect and his accomplice and alerted Alpha Security by pressing his panic button.
According to Morné le Grange, general manager at Alpha Security, the resident spotted two men removing a manhole cover on his street.
“Reaction officer Jabu Ndlovu responded to the call,” said Le Grange.
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Upon arrival, the resident informed Ndlovu of the direction in which the suspects fled. Ndlovu gave chase and managed to arrest one of the suspects on Dann Road in Glen Marais with the help of Jacques Boshoff from Formel Security.
“The suspect admitted he stole the manhole cover and told us that he was homeless. We immediately called the metro police who arrested the man,” said Le Grange.
The suspect was taken to Kempton Park Police Station where he was detained. After further investigation, it was found the suspect was linked to several other cases.
“We are very proud in serving the community. A small thing like stealing a manhole cover resulted in a huge success, as the suspect had several cases against him. The missing manhole cover could have caused serious injury to a motorcyclist or cyclist, not to mention the possibility of loss of life,” concluded Le Grange.
The manhole cover was replaced.
Kempton Park SAPS did not reply to Kempton Express’ queries.
