An intruder was arrested after the victim used his phone to track his stolen iPad. This is according to Hi-Tech’s operations manager, Mr Nico Grobler.
The home-invasion incident occurred on Sunday at 04:30 and the phone robbery on Tuesday morning.
Grobler said their client and his family, who reside in Besembos Street, woke up on Sunday morning to find two robbers in their home.
“He pressed the panic button and we immediately responded. We also phoned our client who told us there were two intruders in his house,” said Grobler.
By the time the officers arrived at the scene the suspects had already fled.According to Grobler, the complainant showed the officers his tracking app on his phone for his iPad. “With this we could track the suspects’ movements. We eventually caught up with them near El Madre.”
One suspect was caught with the stolen iPad, a laptop and handbags in his possession. “The other managed to escape,” he said.
Grobler warned residents to be on high alert in the vicinity of Ehmke and Ferreria streets. A young male was also robbed of his phone.
According to Hi-Tech response manager Mr Callum MacPherson, he received a call on the Nelspruit Concerned Citizens channel.
“We went to lend assistance and found a young male had been robbed of his phone while walking in Piet Retief Street. Two suspects stole his phone before fleeing into the marshes,” said MacPherson.
He said Hi-Tech and various other response teams searched for the suspects. “Jan Nienaber and Theo de Meyer from our rapid-response unit managed to arrest the suspects and they are currently in police custody,” said MacPherson.
Grobler said that break-ins into parked vehicles was also something that occured regularly. He urged the public not to leave valuables in parked vehicles as thieves tend to break into vehicles to steal valuables they see inside.
“We have conducted several campaigns to alert the public to this problem,” he concluded.
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