Dog unit bust burglars

Police arrested three men just hours after they allegedly burgled a home in Sonkring, on Friday March 31.

Brackenfell police spokewoman Captain Erica Crous said Maitland police dog unit officers patrolling La Belle Road, Stikland, in the early afternoon saw a silver Volkswagen Polo that fitted the description of a “suspicious” vehicle that was reported in Brackenfell earlier that day. The officers pulled the vehicle over and found a television and children’s toys inside.

The three men in the car were taken to Brackenfell police station, and the police found that the items in the car had been stolen earlier that morning from a home in Sonkring.

“The housebreaking occurred at approximately 10.15am. Entry was gained by breaking open the back door. All the goods stolen at this home were found in the Polo,” Captain Crous said.

The men, aged 29, 30 and 36, from Philippi, were arrested for possession of suspected stolen property and housebreaking. All three appeared in Kuils River Magistrate’s Court on Monday April 3.

On the same day, two house robbers accosted a 26-year-old Brackenfell woman as she was unloading groceries at her Protea Heights home, at about noon.

“She saw a white Ford Figo parked in the driveway of the house opposite her when she returned home,” Captain Crous said. “The vehicle, however, drove away.”

The woman took some of the bags inside the house, and when she returned for the rest, the same Figo was parked in her driveway behind her car.

Two men got out of the Ford and approached her. One man forced her into the house while the other took a television and laptop.

“The lady managed to push her panic button,” Captain Crous said.

The suspects sped off but not before taking the licence plate off the Ford Figo.

Police are investigating a case of house robbery but no arrests have been made.

Meanwhile in Kraaifontein last week, robbers were disturbed in their attempt to burgle an ATM.

Northpine Neighbourhood watch reported the attempted robbery on its Facebook page.

The March 31 post read: “SAPS and forensics are at FNB ATM at Northpine Centre. The alarm was triggered at 4am.”

According to the post, a security company arrived within three minutes and found three men tampering with the ATM.

“They fled on foot in different directions. One climbed over into complex and got away by jumping walls,” the post said.

Provincial police spokesman Sergeant Noloyiso Rwexana said a case of malicious damage to property had been opened.

“It was discovered that the door of the ATM had been forced open,” she said.