Festive Season Operations conducted at Vryheid on 23 November 2019, led to the arrest of three suspects aged between 23 and 30 for stock theft.
Police were conducting operations at Bellevue when they found three men in a bakkie with a trailer carrying seven cattle and a calf. During the stop and search operation police also found four cattle carcasses in their bakkie. The men could not provide police with an explanation as to how they came into possession of the livestock and carcasses.
The suspects were detained at the Vryheid police station where they were charged for stock theft as well as for being in possession of suspected stolen property. They will appear in the Vryheid Magistrates Court.
Further investigations has linked the suspects to additional stock theft cases in Vryheid and Paulpietersburg.
In another operation that was conducted by the Pietermaritzburg Stock Theft Unit in Plessislaer, a man arrested and four cattle were seized in KwaPata. Two of the cattle were handed back to the lawful owner as they were branded. The suspect will appear in the Pietermaritzburg Magistrates Court soon.
The KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Commissioner, Lieutenant General Khombinkosi Jula commended police officers at the Stock Theft Unit for the arrests. “Due to the heightened visibility on major routes since the launch of Festive Season Operations we have intercepted a large number of criminals transporting stolen stock and carcasses. We are appealing to livestock owners to brand mark their stock as failure to do so is an offence,” he said.
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