Gillitts intruder that squeezed through burglar bars arrested

Armed response officers working closely with a local neighbourhood watch group arrested three suspects in the upper Highway area this weekend, including an intruder that squeezed through burglar bars and two alleged cable thieves.

Blue Security community and media liaison officer Andreas Mathios said a housebreaker was arrested in Gillitts in the early hours of Saturday morning after he broke into a home in Forest View Drive. The incident occurred at around 3.25am.
“The suspect forced open a bedroom window and managed to squeeze through the burglar bars to gain entry. He grabbed two cellphones, a laptop, a hard drive and a portable induction cooker before fleeing the scene when the panic alarm was activated,” Mathios said. “He fled the property by jumping over the gate and running into some nearby bushes. Our officer arrived at the scene, gave chase and arrested the suspect.”
Mathios said the officer also managed to immediately recover some of the stolen items, including the portable cooker and hard drive which he found lying at the bottom of the garden. The items were handed back to the owner. Hillcrest SAPS attended the scene of the crime and took the suspect into custody.
Mathios added that members of the Crestwatch Neighbourhood Watch alerted an armed response officer to a cable theft in progress on the corner of Inanda Road and Crestholme Drive at around 10.40am on Friday.
“The officer responded to the scene, but the suspects had already moved on. Our officer then patrolled the area in search of the suspects, who he found walking along the road carrying a black bag,” Mathios said. “The officer stopped the men for questioning and discovered 100m of Telkom cabling inside the bag. The neighbourhood watch members then arrived at the scene and identified the suspects. The suspects, who identified themselves as residents of Molweni, were handed over to the Hillcrest police at the scene of the arrest,” Mathios said.