A truck was back with its owner 15 minutes after it was stolen in Brackenfell last week.
The police dog unit, with help from a security firm, arrested the suspected truck thief in the bushes on the corner of Langverwacht and Saxdown roads, Kuils River, in the early hours of Thursday June 9.
Brackenfell police spokeswoman Captain Erica Crous said the 27-year-old Khayelitsha man had allegedly stolen the Nissan Cabstar truck in Basset Street, Brackenfell.
The owner was awoken during the theft and called the police.
Provincial police spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel André Traut said police had blocked exits in the area while a security company had spotted the truck and followed it.
The thief drove the truck about 6km before driving into a ditch.
He abandoned it and fled into the bush, where the dog unit arrested a suspect.
The truck was returned to the owner 15 minutes after it was stolen.
The suspect appeared at the Blue Down Magistrate’s Court on Monday June 12.