Burglary in Rontree 2 - suspect caught with stolen goods by private guard
Three opportunistic suspects broke into residential property with foreign tourists and stole 2 laptops and iPod. When leaving the scene, private guards on Barbara Road catch suspect with stolen goods and handover to SAPS.
Between 5 and 6am Sunday morning after a windy night, most likele three opportunistic and drug related criminals made an attempt to break into a house in Rontree 2. After alarm went off, they moved to the next house where the foreign tenant went to bed late leaving a balcony door open and the alarm off.
The suspects broke into the house, and stole one MacBook Pro, a Sony Vaio Laptop and an iPod, covered all three items in a cushion cover including laptop chargers. They went to the kitchen and opened the fridge and helped themselves to drinks, and lef the fridge door open. The fridge beeping alarm (as door not closed) not only alarmed the tenant of the house, but also got the intruders leaving the premise.
Only minutes later, one suspect was caught by a private guard on Barbara Road at 6:05am while making his way down the mountain. When questioned about the stolen goods, the suspect said that he robbed them from two other suspects, which obviously was a bad excuse. A resident from Barbara Road and also Camps Bay Watch member radioed on the CBW frequency to SAPS who appeared within minutes, taking the suspect into custody, although two other suspects could not be followed as only one SAPS vehicle was on operation.
A police case was done at Camps Bay police station and the suspect is being prosecuted on Monday. SAPS took finger prints at the crime scene and from the stolen goods. Further information on the other suspects, their modus operandi and the drug related criminials behind this group is being investigated by Camps Bay Police station at present.
The tenant was very happy to hear that at the time he called the police and armed response company already one suspect was arrested with the stolen goods, and made a generious contribution to the guard on duty, and overall was very supportive to members of SAPS and CBW.
A couple of learning points:
The suspects broke into the house, and stole one MacBook Pro, a Sony Vaio Laptop and an iPod, covered all three items in a cushion cover including laptop chargers. They went to the kitchen and opened the fridge and helped themselves to drinks, and lef the fridge door open. The fridge beeping alarm (as door not closed) not only alarmed the tenant of the house, but also got the intruders leaving the premise.
Only minutes later, one suspect was caught by a private guard on Barbara Road at 6:05am while making his way down the mountain. When questioned about the stolen goods, the suspect said that he robbed them from two other suspects, which obviously was a bad excuse. A resident from Barbara Road and also Camps Bay Watch member radioed on the CBW frequency to SAPS who appeared within minutes, taking the suspect into custody, although two other suspects could not be followed as only one SAPS vehicle was on operation.
A police case was done at Camps Bay police station and the suspect is being prosecuted on Monday. SAPS took finger prints at the crime scene and from the stolen goods. Further information on the other suspects, their modus operandi and the drug related criminials behind this group is being investigated by Camps Bay Police station at present.
The tenant was very happy to hear that at the time he called the police and armed response company already one suspect was arrested with the stolen goods, and made a generious contribution to the guard on duty, and overall was very supportive to members of SAPS and CBW.
A couple of learning points:
- never leave your alarm off or windows visibly open even when going to bed late, e.g. at 5am
- keep laptops and other valuables away from windows and not visible to the outside. At numerious cases we had suspects using binos to "spy" into other houses
- invest in additional security such as proper (electric) fencing
- have SAPS, armed response company and CBW emergency numbers on speed dial on your phone, and if you have tenants or friends staying with you provide them with those numbers
- if the alarm goes off, do not check the house and premise yourself, but call armed response companies / SAPS and have those professionals doing that job
- in case of any incident, make a proper police statement, insist on police case number and inform a member of CBW who will provide further support