Cape Town - A man accused of being part of a gang of criminals terrorising Claremont residents has been arrested by metro police.
The group would drive around in a hijacked Ford Figo and rob unsuspecting people in the streets, according to safety authorities.
On Sunday while driving the suspected stolen vehicle in Manenberg, the suspect was arrested and charged.
Safety and Security Mayco member JP Smith said: “On Sunday metro police officers arrested a suspect for the possession of a hijacked vehicle at Klipfontein Road, Manenberg. Officers were on crime prevention patrols when they pulled over a silver green Ford Figo for a routine traffic stop.
“The officers noticed there was no licence disk and investigations confirmed that the vehicle was hijacked. Officers also discovered that the number plates were fraudulent and that the vehicle was involved in an armed street robbery. The suspect, 39, was booked in at SAPS Manenberg.”
Smith said the officers also confiscated a cellphone and cash to the amount of R360.
“The vehicle was handed in at the Stikland SAPS vehicle impound facility.
“SAPS investigators are now looking at linking this vehicle and suspects to a variety of street robberies that have occurred across the southern suburbs.”
Police spokesperson, Wesley Twigg, confirmed the man was arrested by metro police for the possession of a hijacked or stolen motor vehicle.
“The case will be investigated by Manenberg detectives,” he said.
Claremont ward councillor, Mikhail Manuel, said an incident had been reported in his ward.
“There was a robbery near Cavendish Square. A vehicle pulled up and three men got out and approached a pedestrian who was getting out of another vehicle and stole a laptop, got back into the car and drove away.
“You aren’t able to drive into the ward without the camera checking your licence plate to see if the vehicle isn’t linked to any crimes.
“We have a database of vehicles that are linked to various crimes. The licence plate recognition network will be able to pick up that the vehicle was linked to previous crimes. And then metro police will do an ordinary stop and check in Manenberg where they had no plates on this car. They were stopped by an officer and it was found that the plates were taken off. The plates which were in the boot were the same linked to the Claremont robbery.
“It is not welcomed whether you are in Claremont or Manenberg. We don’t want crime here. We are increasing capacity and resources to be able to catch criminals. New Law Enforcement were deployed in the Wynberg CBD,” Manuel said.
Cape Argus