Speedy arrest after street robbery

A cellphone, sim card and clothing were recovered from a house in N Street last weekend, only hours after a man was robbed of them, thanks to the vigilance of a Grahamstown police officer.

Sergeant Mervin Frans, SAPS Eastern Cape Star of the Year for 2015, was tipped off about two men in possession of a firearm going past Vergenoeg towards Extension 9.

Frans started his investigation and called for assistance from other members of the task team.

The area was patrolled and the Photo supplied suspects were sighted in Extension 9, Joza.

They were stopped and searched and a replica firearm was confiscated.

One of the men also had a cellphone whose pin code he did not know.

The officer’s suspicions were further aroused when inspecting the memory card, the suspect was not able to identify any of the people in the photographs.

Further investigation led the team to an address where the occupant told the officers he’d been robbed at gunpoint at 9am the same morning.

His cellphone had been taken and he’d been assaulted.

The victim was able to identify the suspect.

The team then proceeded to the home of the suspect in N Street and more items including a sim card and clothing belonging to the victim were recovered.

The suspect, aged 19, was arrested and will appear in the magistrate’s court in Grahamstown on Monday on a charge of aggravated robbery.

The second man was not involved in the incident, according to the victim, and was not detained.