Suspected infrastructure thieves arrested

Three men were arrested at the weekend in two separate incidents relating to theft and damage to Nelson Mandela Bay metro facilities.

The latest arrest was in Kariega yesterday morning when city security officers, patrolling the KwaNobuhle Multipurpose Stadium, spotted four men acting suspiciously.

The suspects fled in different directions and a chase ensued, culminating in one arrest.

Safety and security political head Lawrence Troon said the suspects had allegedly been stripping roof sheets from the building.

In an earlier incident, two suspects were arrested late on

Friday night after being found in possession of suspected stolen municipal palisade fencing.

Patrolling metro facilities protection response team officers came across an Isuzu bakkie parked on the N2, behind the Fishwater Flats wastewater treatment works.

Two women and a child were in the vehicle.

“On further inspection, they noticed the vehicle was fully loaded with green palisade fencing bars, the same as those at the outer fence of Fishwater flats, which are close by.”

Officers found two men hiding in nearby bushes and took them back to the bakkie.

The two showed the officers where they allegedly stole the fencing at Fishwater flats and were instructed to drive their vehicle to the Swartkops police station under escort, but sped off.

A chase ensued, during which the bakkie drove into one of the municipal vehicles in Bluewater Bay.

The officers managed to corner the bakkie and apprehend the suspects, who were taken to the Swartkops police station, where the men were arrested.

The arrests followed the recovery, at a scrap dealership, of nine sections of palisade fencing stolen from the North End Cemetery on Friday afternoon.

“This arrest is a breakthrough as we have since learnt that the vehicle used is the same bakkie that is implicated in the North End Cemetery vandalism and theft case,” Troon said.