Police arrested two housebreaking suspects with unlicensed firearms and ammunition

NELSPRUIT – Police arrested two housebreaking suspects aged between 24 and 34 at White River on Monday 24 February 2020 and found them with housebreaking implements as well as firearms, ammunition and some suspected stolen items.

The two suspects are expected to appear in the White River Magistrate’s Court on Thursday 27 February 2020, facing relevant charges relating to the mentioned items.

Their arrest came after police received information on the outbreak of housebreakings at Likweti Estate in the White River policing precinct. On Monday, 25 February 2020, the men and women in blue acted accordingly on the information received where they conducted an Intelligent driven operation which led them to two separate houses at Embonisweni.

Upon arrival at one of those houses, they (police) began searching and in the process, found two firearms hidden inside a couch with serial numbers filed off as well as five live ammunition. Police then arrested one suspect who was hiding at the said house for possession of firearms without a license and ammunition. An additional charge of contravention of the Immigration Act was also levelled against the suspect as he failed to provide valid documents as proof that he was in the country legally.

The operation proceeded to the second house where another suspect was also found and upon searching his place, police recovered items such as DVD players, audio control boxes, speakers, a wristwatch, deep cycle batteries, as well as housebreaking implements. The suspect, who also failed to produce a valid passport, was arrested for possession of suspected stolen property and housebreaking implements as well as charged for contravention of the Illegal Immigration Act.

A preliminary investigation revealed that the two suspects were working in cahoots during the commission of their criminal activities.

The Provincial Commissioner of the South African Police Service in Mpumalanga, Lieutenant General Mondli Zuma has welcomed the arrests and applauded the sterling work done by police as well as the community in ensuring that the suspects were apprehended so that they can face the full might of the law. “With the two suspects behind bars, one can be certain that the number of perpetrators committing house breakings is being reduced and we believe that this type of crime will be solved effectively. We are also happy that two firearms were recovered because our concern in the province has been the proliferation of firearms which are mostly used in the commission of violent crimes. This is a job well done by the public that supplied information, as well as police who acted diligently on that information, ” said General Zuma.