Police officers in Norkem Park, northern Kempton Park, have nabbed six men and recovered stolen property to the value of R1m.

Armed with a search warrant, the officers on Saturday pounced on an address in the Kempton Park suburb of Birch Acres and swiftly arrested six men alleged to have been routinely stealing diesel.

According to provincial spokesperson Captain Ben Matimulane, the search warrant was granted on the back of this suspicion.

“Apart from the 5 000l of diesel that was found, the officers also seized three vehicles, 58 cellphones, three laptops, 80 bank cards, three batteries (one lithium and two Vodacom), 12 diesel containers, two air pistols and two petrol pumps. The combined value of all the recovered items came to approximately a R1m,” says Matimulane.

The Gauteng provincial commissioner, Lieutenant-General Elias Mawela, has lauded the police for these arrests.

Mawela says that this will send a clear message to the criminal elements that they will be swiftly dealt with. “We send our gratitude to the Norkem Park team that carried out this search and the subsequent arrests and recoveries.”

The six suspects, whose ages range from 23 and 45, were expected to appear in the Kempton Park Magistrate’s Court yesterday to face a charge of possession of suspected stolen property.

Three of the men are employees of the depot from which the diesel was routinely stolen.