Quick reaction to a tip-off led to the arrest of a suspected robber and the recovery of a firearm that was stolen during a house robbery.
Captain Fadila September, spokesperson for Hermanus police, reported a woman and her two children were surprised by two men who entered their home in Vukuzenzele Street, Zwelihle at approximately 20:15 on Wednesday 15 November.
“The suspects, whose faces were covered with balaclavas, entered a door that was unlocked,” she related. “They ordered the complainant and her children to be quiet and asked where the safe and firearm were.”
When the woman denied having a firearm or safe the robbers became angry and allegedly grabbed one of the children and threatened to hurt them if she did not comply with their demand.
Fearing for her children’s safety the woman then accompanied the robbers to the safe where her husband secured his firearm.
“They removed the firearm, a 9mm Stoeger Arms pistol, from the safe and walked out of the house with it,” September said.
Two days later the police received a call informing them the suspect who had taken the firearm in the house robbery was seen in a taxi in the parking area at Whale Coast Mall.
“The members attended to the information and found the suspect in the taxi with the stolen firearm in its original holster in his possession,” September related. “The magazine, however, was not in the firearm. The suspect was arrested for possession of a unlicensed firearm. He will also be charged in connection with house robbery.”