Swift action ends in man’s arrest
SWIFT action by a senior reaction officer at Special Operations Solutions (SOS) led to an arrest last week after a break in at Glass and Aluminium in Sussex Street.
MOKOPANE – SWIFT action by a senior reaction officer at Special Operations Solutions (SOS) led to an arrest last week after a break in at Glass and Aluminium in Sussex Street.
Martin van Eck of SOS followed up on a call from the control room last Tuesday to investigate a situation at Glass and Aluminium.
“On arrival, the owner of the store informed me that there was a break in and that money to the value of R20 000 was stolen,” said Van Eck.
After thorough investigation, Van Eck was led to one of the employees, who was a possible suspect.
“I went to the suspect’s house in Sekgakgapeng to ask him a few questions with regards to the break in, but he was not home. I explained the situation to my informants in the area and told them to contact me if they saw him,” he said.
Van Eck was called by one of his informants last Thursday, who informed him that the suspect was seen at a house in Sekgakgapeng.
He called for back up from other SOS reaction officers, Eugene King and Jaun Cook, who escorted him to Sekgakgapeng where the suspect was seen.
“On arrival at the house the 43-year-old suspect was seen at, we found him sitting outside, but he started to run when he saw us. Eugene and I chased after him and I managed to catch up with him and arrest him.
“The suspect had R3 216 in a black plastic bag on him. He was handed over to WO Jacques van Heerden at the detective department of the Mokopane police station,” said Van Eck.
Van Heerden questioned the suspect and he admitted to stealing the money. He then took Van Eck and Van Heerden to a place in the industrial area where he hid the money boxes.
The suspect also admitted that he used R7 000 to buy a car.
The R7 000 was recovered, as the person who sold him the car gave back the money as soon as he heard it was stolen. A total amount of R10 216 was recovered, read the statement from Van Eck.
“The suspect will appear before the Mokopane magistrate’s court on a charge of theft and housebreaking,” said Const Irene Masingi, spokesperson for the Mokopane police.
The owner of Glass and Aluminium thanks Van Heerden and the SOS team for their good work.
