This is the offical word, received from KZN police spokesman, Col Jay Naicker. “According to Amanzimtoti police, they were forced to release the suspects after 48 hours because there was no evidence linking them to any case. It is alleged a private security company shot at them and arrested them on suspicion of being involved in cases reported in Amanzimtoti. No firearm or evidence was found on these men to indicate they were involved in any crime. We could therefore not detain them further, as their detention would be illegal,” said Naicker.
The trio were subsequently released by the courts on Monday, 14 October, as they were not charged within 48 hours. They were nabbed in Joyner Road, Prospecton on Friday, 11 October, after being spotted attempting to break into a residence in Cato Crescent, Toti.
CCPO chairman, Richard Allkins is appalled at the men's release and lists the following facts in relation to the men's arrests:
* A group of armed men in a silver Opel Corsa Gamma model held-up a crew of men and stole their brushcutters.
* Some 20 minutes later a group of armed men in a Silver Opel Corsa Gamma model held-up someone at a body corporate and stole brushcutters.
* A group of armed men in a silver Opel Corsa Gamma model hijacked a woman at Toti Primary and stole her car, this is recorded on camera on Thursday, 3 October.
* CCPO and other security personnel are tasked to be on the lookout for a silver Opel Corsa Gamma model with a number of occupants.
* A Blue Security patrol spots a silver Opel Corsa Gamma model parked at an address in Cato Crescent. An occupant is seen shaking the gate by the security officer. The suspects, upon seeing the approaching vehicle, jump in their vehicle and speed away. The officer puts out a call on the radio reporting what he has seen and attempts to follow the vehicle.
* Three CCPO and a Metro Police vehicle respond to the call-out and the vehicle is spotted by two of the CCPO vehicles travelling at speed along Moss Kolnick and past Galleria. At times it is spotted weaving dangerously through traffic and at one point on Dickens Road, it is seen driving counter to the traffic. The two CCPO vehicles keep the information circulated on the radio and the Metro Police car and the other CCPO vehicle head down to Isipingo on the back road, to intercept the car somewhere near Isipingo.
* The suspects turn onto Joyner Road and are stopped by Metro Police, who fire two shots into the vehicle’s engine to stop the driver from running them down. They are pulled out of the car by Metro Police and arrested.
* While on the scene, the owner of the garden service and his workers happen to be driving by and stop and identify the suspects as the men who robbed them.
* Also in the crowd of onlookers is a member of a church in Isipingo who claims these are the men who held them up in church and robbed them of phones, nnd so on?
* The suspects are taken to Toti SAPS and later released due to lack of evidence?
Richards has a number of questions in relation to the Cato Crescent incident and subsequent turn of events.
* What were they looking for at the address in Cato Crescent?
* Why did they feel they had to speed away recklessly?
* Why did they endanger the life of the policemen trying to stop them?
* Why was the charge by the complainant who identified them for the theft of brushcutters not enough to extend their detention?
* Why was the second witness not properly questioned to establish a link with the church robbery, as there had been a robbery at a church in Isipingo?
“All this does not point to innocent men and any person weighing up the facts would have to be very suspicious,” said Richard.
