Remains of stolen vehicle discovered in Lakeside

IT WOULD appear that not even the month of love is enough to keep thieves and criminals from carrying out their nefarious deeds.

On February 17, a Nissan 1400 bakkie, belonging to Northern Natal Gearbox Centre was stolen from outside of Auto and Electrical in President Street.

The driver of the company vehicle had stopped there to collect something at the store. He climbed out of the vehicle, locked it and entered Auto and Electrical. Within the very brief space of time that he was inside the store, the thieves managed to steal the vehicle and disappear without a trace.

Two days later, on February 19, a member of the community contacted the police, informing them of a burning vehicle in Lakeside.

Detectives were dispatched to investigate, as well as the dog unit.

Upon inspection, they were able to ascertain by the chassis and engine numbers and remnants of some of the company logos on the vehicle itself, that the burnt out shell was in fact what remained of the vehicle which had been stolen two days earlier.

After some searching and further investigation, they managed to locate all of the parts, which had been stripped from the vehicle before it was set alight, dispersed between two separate houses near to where the burning shell of the vehicle had been recovered.

At the time of going to press, investigations are ongoing, but arrests have been made and the suspects have been taken into custody.