Four men were arrested when the Hekpoort police and the community worked together to catch them.

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Sergeant Gloria Maswanganye from the Hekpoort Police Station said the men who are between the ages of 34 and 43 were arrested for theft and being in possession of suspected stolen property.

She explained that when members from the D shift received a complaint about a stolen generator on Tuesday, August 16 at 02:00 they quickly responded. While Sergeants Ambani Pharamela and Emanuel Molaudzi were driving along the R560 they came across a white bakkie parked on the side of the road.

They stopped and searched the vehicle and found four tyres suspected to have been stolen. They interrogated the driver who later indicated that he was meeting with his friends who were waiting for him at the bushes.”

When the ‘friends’ saw the police they ran away but the members searched the bushes and recovered the stolen generator. The driver was arrested and charged.

By 08:00 Sergeants Ndateni Phosa and Johan van den Berg from Crime Prevention along with detective Constable Tumiso Lebeko followed up on information that took them to Majakaneng in Brits where they arrested the second suspect. They then proceeded to Mooinooi and arrested the third suspect while the fourth suspect was arrested in Bapong also in Brits.

The suspects were linked to three burglaries that occurred in Hekpoort, and all the stolen property in all three cases were recovered.”

Among the items recovered were a compressor, bicycle, pressure washer and electric appliances, while housebreaking implements and a toy gun were also seized.

Some of the cell phones that were robbed in the Warmaseru area around Brits were also recovered.

The Hekpoort Police members worked with Sergeants Ngobeni, Mpye, Sejamoholo, Mofurutshe, Thamage and Swartz from the Hartbeespoort Police Station who also assisted in tracing the suspects.