All Ladysmith law enforcement agencies were put on standby on Saturday morning after receiving information of robbers being chased down the highway.
Secure SA took a call from Werna Havenga of Verbatim Investigations who reported that he was in hot pursuit of alleged armed robbers.

Werna works for a major tracking company in Johannesburg and he was requesting help after chasing down armed robbers who were tearing down the N3 at breakneck speeds. The men he was chasing had allegedly robbed a cell-phone store at gunpoint in Witbank and were fleeing along the N3 towards Durban. He had picked up a signal of the fleeing vehicle near Van Reenen and the car was travelling at high speed just ahead of him.
“At times we were doing over 200km/h,” explained Werna in an exclusive interview with the Ladysmith Gazette. “I was weaving through traffic to try and stay with the robbers.”
Werna requested that Secure SA alert RTI and police of the vehicle racing down the N3 and heading to Durban. The vehicle Werna was chasing was a silver Audi A4 with ND registration. Secure SA notified police, RTI and Public Safety.

As the vehicle was travelling at high speed, local RTI just missed stopping armed robbers at the Bergville interchange.

Secure SA then co-ordinated a response from Pietermaritzburg police with the help of Brigadier Reinders in Pietermaritzburg.

Werna was tracking the vehicle from behind and was following at a close distance. The robbers, at this stage, knew they were being followed.
The Pietermaritzburg K9 Unit closed off the N3 just ahead of the fleeing robbers and forced the vehicle to pull over.
Four suspects were arrested and R200,000 worth of stolen cell-phones were recovered, as well as illegal firearms.

“I am happy our system works, if given the correct information. We can distribute the information to the correct role players and can make a difference. Every member that joins Secure SA / E Block Watch is our ears, our eyes and our voice,” explained a delighted Mark Pitout from Secure SA. “Working closely with other law enforcement groups, we will make a difference,” he added.