Swift collaboration between Despatch police members, the Kariega K9 unit, a private security company and the community led to the speedy arrest of three robbery suspects in Despatch on Thursday afternoon.
Colonel Priscilla Naidu says a 53-year-old Despatch woman was walking in Bretner Street, pushing two children in a pram, when she was accosted by an unknown man around midday.
He grabbed her necklace with an estimated value of R5000 from her neck and jumped into a white Ford vehicle that had been cruising nearby.
Colonel Naidu says a witness to the incident got into his vehicle and chased after the fleeing suspects.
When the suspects’ vehicle stalled at the corners of Botha and Dromedaris Streets, four suspects got out and started running.
The community, K9 members and the private security personnel pursued after the suspects who scaled several boundary walls trying to evade arrest.
Three suspects aged 24, 27 and 29 were arrested by the K9 Unit members while the fourth suspect managed to get away.
Colonel Naidu says that on inspecting the vehicle, property suspected to be stolen in a housebreaking in the area was found in the car.
The vehicle was impounded and the suspects were detained on a charge of robbery.
