Concerted efforts to curb stock theft and stop stock thieves were handsomely rewarded when repeat offenders and serial stock thieves were arrested for stock theft on 5 August 2020.
Members attached to Visible Policing Unit and local detectives arrested four male suspects and recovered the meat of a sheep at Rhodes, Joe Gqabi District.
The arrest followed after members followed intelligence driven information after a case of stock theft was reported. The trace led them to a house at Zakhele locality.
They searched the house and followed the smell of fresh mutton until they found meat swimming in steaming gravy hidden in the corner in the kitchen. They also discovered uncooked fresh meat hidden in the cupboard.
Four suspects aged between 18 and 30 years old were arrested before they could taste their stolen steaming pot full of mutton or share the meat amongst themselves.
All the four suspects are expected to appear in court facing a charge of possession of suspected stolen meat.
In an unrelated case, Sergeant Zolile Dingayo attached to the Elliot Stock Theft Unit followed intelligence information after four carcasses of sheep were recovered in the homesteads of Percy Ntsikelelo Nkosi and Qamata (32) Monwabisi Swelindawo aged 33.
Both suspects were arrested and they pointed out where they were slaughtering those sheep. They further admitted that they took thirty five sheep at Joubertskop farm, Dordrecht but only managed to slaughter four sheep and left the others from the grazing camp.
They appeared in court and the Public Prosecutor denied bail due to the previous convictions of the similar offence much to the delight of the detectives and the immediate farming community.
Eastern Cape Provincial Commissioner Lt Gen Liziwe Ntshinga commended the members for the success. “We must continue to stop them on their tracks and work smart until we have broken the backbone of illicit trade in stolen meat and stock. We plead with the public to refrain from buying meat and stock from thieves in order to eradicate stock theft,” she emphasized.
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