Two suspects were arrested at the weekend in unrelated cases, one for cable theft in Deal Party and the other for being in possession of abalone worth hundreds of thousands on the N2 near Thornhill.
The collaborative operation by the Gqeberha K9-Unit in conjunction with the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, resulted in the arrest of one suspect for being in possession of abalone with an estimated value of R800 000 between Gqeberha and Jeffrey’s Bay on Friday, September 16.
It is alleged that at approximately 07:00, members attached to the Gqeberha K9-Unit received information from Humansdorp K9, about a gold-coloured Toyota Avanza travelling towards Gqeberha with abalone.
Police spokesperson, Capt. Sandra Janse van Rensburg, said that the members, with the assistance of the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, immediately closed all the exit routes of the N2 freeway to prevent the vehicle turning off the N2.
“Near Thornhill, the vehicle was spotted and the members successfully stopped the vehicle. Upon searching the vehicle the members found black bags containing abalone. The suspect (35) was detained for contravening the Marine Living Resource Act 19 of 1998 Regulation 36 sub section 1 – illegal possession of abalone. The Toyota Avanza was also confiscated together with 2 800 units of fresh chucked abalone,” she said.
In a separate incident, also on Friday, at approximately 11:00, the Gqeberha K9-Unit received information about two suspects that were busy stealing cables from a lamp pole at the Deal Party off-ramp on the freeway.
The members immediately responded and upon arrival they noticed the suspects hiding between the bushes. The members arrested one suspect, however, the second suspect managed to evade arrest. As he ran towards the freeway, K9 Diesel was used to assist with the arrest but due to traffic on the freeway the suspect got away.
Janse van Rensburg said that the suspect (34) was arrested under the Criminal Matters Amendment Act 18 of 2015 for the tampering, damaging and destroying of essential infrastructure. They also confiscated two bundles of cables.
Source: SAPS media statement
