‘Spotter’ for gangs caught with police radios

A 30-YEAR-old man believed to be working as a spotter for local gangs was arrested by police in Morningside yesterday afternoon.

He was charged with contravening the telecommunications act, possession of suspected stolen property and defeating the ends of justice.

Lieutenant- Colonel Thulani Zwane, police spokesperson, said the man was found in possession of emergency service two-way equipment.

“The bust was made by members of the Provincial Organised Crime Unit, National Intervention Unit, Metro Crime Prevention and eThekwini Outer North Crime Intelligence. The suspect was caught monitoring these two-way radios at an outbuilding.

“He will appear in the Durban Magistrate’s Court tomorrow,” Zwane said.

Zwane said officers swooped on the outbuilding after information about illegal monitoring of police and emergency services operations.

After the tip-off, police then did their own monitoring.

“For a week, they monitored these illegal criminal activities after the police suspected that there might be someone who may be leaking information on police operations to criminals.

“In the outbuilding the suspect was found with different two-way radios listening to activities by metro police, SAPS and EMRS on their different channels.

“A total of 20 two-way radios were confiscated and will be used as exhibits,” Zwane said.

Major-General Bheki Langa, KwaZulu-Natal acting provincial commissioner, congratulated the officers involved in the operation.

“This is a testimony that police deployments and multi-disciplinary operations in the province are reaping good results.

“Investigations will continue as to how the two-way radios landed up in the suspect’s hands,” he added.