Wakker police cops have arrested three alleged car hijackers and two skelms in two separate incidents in Mitchells Plain, police said.
“In SAPS [South African Police Service] efforts to address the cause of crime, vigilant police members attached to Mitchells Plain and Lentegeur SAPS, who were on patrol [just before noon on Friday], arrested three males aged between 23 and 34,” Captain FC van Wyk said.
“The suspects were driving a suspicious silver Ford Fiesta vehicle when it was noticed by police who decided to stop and search it. The driver refused to stop and drove off. A high-speed chase through the streets of Mitchells Plain ensued. Lentegeur SAPS members got involved and at Melkbos Street, Lentegeur the suspects left the vehicle and fled on foot. Members [gave] chase and caught them.”
The car was checked and found to have been hijacked earlier on Friday morning in Somerset West. The men were detained on charges of possession of a hijacked vehicle. They would appear in the Mitchells Plain Magistrates' Court on Monday, Van Wyk said.
In an unrelated incident at about 11pm on Friday, Mitchells Plain police officers responded to a complaint of a business robbery in 7th Avenue, Town Centre, Mitchells Plain. Two men had entered the business premises armed with a knife and an iron pipe.
They made off with two laptops, an undisclosed amount of cash, a cellphone, and a Quantam minibus. Police patrolling in the area spotted the minibus and arrested the two suspects, aged 24 and 37, on charges of business robbery.
The stolen property and the vehicle were recovered. The two men were due to appear in Mitchells Plain Magistrates' Court on Monday, van Wyk said.