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Thousands of rands in damages as wheel thieves strike again

Criminals targeting the wheels on vehicles have struck again after stripping a bakkie last night in Mineralia.

According to resident Johan Havenga from Dawie Crescent in Mineralia, all four wheels were stolen from his work vehicle.
He suspects the thieves struck roughly at 01:00 during the power outage caused by last night’s storm.

Despite the vehicle being parked right next to his bedroom window, he didn’t hear a thing and woke up to his bakkie standing on paving bricks removed from his driveway.

Mr Havenga confirmed that a set of wheels, rims and all, falls within R30 000 to R35 000 for his work bakkie.

A case has been opened at the Middelburg Police Station.

• Middelburg has been plagued by the theft of wheels for several years now, with thieves targeting multiple homes in one night.

It has been previously published by the Middelburg Observer that the SAPS has linked the theft of wheels to the theft of trailers and believes that stolen trailers are used to transport the looted wheels.

The thieves are believed to be a syndicate, working in groups of four, and normally target 17 and 18-inch wheels.
All four wheels usually get stolen, amounting to thousands of rands in damages.

In all instances, the vehicles are perched on paving bricks removed from the premises of the victims.

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Sjani Campher

Sjani has been working as a community journalist and photographer at the Middelburg Observer since 2018, during which she has been responsible for the content creation for both digital and print, as well as maintaining the publication's online platforms. She is a member of the Forum for Community Journalists, and focuses on fields including hard news, investigative reporting, human interest, columns and sports.
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