Man arrested for stealing iPhone 5

Bramley police spokesperson Warrant Officer Moses Maphakela said the woman was walking past the Mushroom Farm Park when the suspect approached her, Sandton Chronicle reported.

Maphakela added the suspect tripped the woman, and she fell to the ground.

“He told her to give him her cellphone, which she was holding in her hand, and he demanded her handbag too,” said Maphakela.

“The suspect threatened to kill the woman because she was shouting at him. When the suspect saw people walking, he fled with the cellphone,”added Maphakela.

It is believed the suspect was chased and caught by a security guard who witnessed the incident, and the iPhone was recovered and handed back to the owner.

The suspect was arrested for common robbery and detained at the Bramley Police Station.

He is expected to appear in court soon.

In a separate incident, cellphones worth an alleged R8.8 million were stolen, and a security escort was shot and seriously wounded during a hijacking on Olifantsfontein Road, near Midrand, last Monday.

According to police spokesperson Constable Mokete Serakawana, a truck was transporting iPhones from OR Tambo International Airport to a warehouse in Midrand when armed men approached it at an intersection.

“Three vehicles were escorting the truck. When the vehicles stopped at a red traffic light at about 2pm, a red Mazda stopped opposite the truck, and five armed men jumped out,” she explained.

The five men, armed with AK47 and R5 assault rifles, then reportedly opened fire on a vehicle in front of the truck before hijacking the truck and making off with 59 boxes containing 10 cellphones each.

The suspects later abandoned the vehicle and part of its load in Clayville East, near Olifantsfontein.

– Caxton News Service