Archive for the ‘Bust Of The Month’ Category

Photo (L to R) D/W/O S. Sunder and Detective Constable Dumakude from SAPS Westville receive meal vouchers from Managers of Spur Pavilion Brett Bowman and Darrel Gower

In early 2010, a family in Westville suffered the trauma of a house robbery. Armed men penetrated their home in the early hours of the morning, waking the children and holding everyone at gunpoint while valuables were collected. A panic button was able to be pressed and a vehicle from Blue Security was dispatched. The arrival of the Security Officer disturbed the criminals who managed to escape. In spite of good witness statements, the investigation, led by D/W/O S. Sunder went cold until lady luck played a card.
A SAPS Field Unit in Kwadebeka recovered a pair of running shoes that the wearer admitted were stolen. They matched a pair of shoes stolen months earlier in the above mentioned incident. Detective Sunder worked on the suspect for more information and he was eventually led to a house in Umlazi where three house robbery suspects and the bulk of the stolen property were found.
The magistrate eventually found the three guilty on numerous counts, ranging from attempted murder, house robbery, and pointing of a firearm. The final total conviction for the criminals was over ninety years inside. Excellent work by Detective W/O Sunder. Read the rest of this entry »

Photo (L to R) W/O Dhawrajh, Cst. Gumede & Buthelezi from Flying Squad, Cst. Cele, Manci, Naicker, Easterbrook and Mbili from SAPS Westville receive meal vouchers from Manager of Spur Westwood Centre, Lucky Maphumulo

Members of SAPS Westville Task Team swiftly closed a case of House Robbery on 19-9-2011. A 60 year old woman was held up in her home allegedly by a man she knew and another. They physically pushed her around, tied her up in the bath and ransacked the house of computer, audio equipment and clothing. They loaded the items into the victim’s car and made good their escape. The victim managed to free herself and raise the alarm. Within hours, the Westville Task Team, with assistance from the Durban Flying Squad, traced the employee and his accomplice to Cleremont where all the property stolen earlier was recovered. Well done to the team for the quick arrests and they have won the Bust of the Month for September. Thanks to Coyote Canyon, Westwood for their generous sponsorship of R800.

Photo: Cst. Easterbrook is flanked from left to right Shoaib Khan, Ahmed Kajee & manager Irshad Sheik from Security Hyperstore, Westwood.

Cst Philip Easterbrook started his Police career in 1995 as a Reservist in Westville and Pinetown. He worked as a Channel operator at the 10111 radio Control. He was eventually promoted to Reservist Sergeant. He decided to later join the Permanent Force, still working at Radio Control. Since 2005 he has served in the Westville Community Service Centre and in Crime Prevention, making many good arrests. His remembering of a circulated wanted vehicle was crucial in the arrest of two suspects wanted for a string of armed robberies in the Highway area. For that, he has been nominated for Bust of the Month in August. Thanks to Security Hyperstore, Westwood for sponsoring this well deserved bust with a R300 voucher.

Photo left to right: Marketing Manager of Boxer Superstores Andrew Mills, Cst Nxumalo, W /Off Dladla and Cstg Ndhlovu from Pinetown SAPS

The bust of the month for June was won by Warrant Officer Dumisani Dladla, Constables Wethu Nxumalo and Nonhlanhla Ndhlovu of Pinetown Crime Prevention Unit.
The trio were on Monday 13 June part of the “Stop and Search” crime prevention strategy in the middle of the Pinetown CBD. They made a major breakthrough solving a housebreaking case which had occurred the day before in Intengu Rd.
The one suspect was at the time of his arrest wearing the watch stolen from the house and the ecstatic complainant has positively identified the recovered property.
Well done to these dedicated police officers and thanks to Boxer Superstores for sponsoring this month’s Bust of the Month.
See the full story of this bust below… Read the rest of this entry »

From L to R: Constables Khathi, Khuzwayo and Capt. Nxumalo accept meal vouchers to the value of R300 from Managers of Spur Pavilion, Brett Bowman and Bryan Jenkins

A large proportion of what Police detectives do is following lead after lead in tracing down suspects of crimes. Having lifted fingerprints at a crime scene does not immediately mean in “CSI” fashion that a face and home address will pop up on a screen, but they do help greatly in linking suspects to crimes and form a good deal of the evidence against them. If a suspect has been arrested previously and his prints are on file it makes finding him much easier, but the legwork has nevertheless to be done.
Over the last month, the detective group led by D/Capt Nxumalo has been exceptionally successful in this regard. They managed to net fourteen wanted suspects who were linked by fingerprints at crime scenes or by Warrant of Arrest. That works out to a wanted suspect every two days. Very good work, and well done for their tireless dedication to the community of Westville.

This month’s Bust of  the Month has been awarded to Detective Captain Jackson Moodley, Detective Warrant Officer Chippie Van der Heever and Warrant Officer Mjabulelwa Thabethe for securing a conviction and sentence to life imprisonment for murder.
Investigation by Captain Moodley and Warrant Officer Van der Heever and a former policeman Warrant Officer Ramesh Ramdeen brought to light that an elderly Indian vagrant from Merebank was lured by Rajan Chetty and his cousin Dayalan Reddy to the Kloof area where he was burnt alive in a bakkie. Rajan then went into hiding and the orchestrated plan was for Dayalan to identify the charred body as Rajan’s and then lodge an insurance claim of six million rand against Rajan’s life policy. Read the rest of this entry »

Capt. RR Maharaj and W/O Desen Pillay (WSAPS) accept the meal vouchers to the value of R500 from Manager of Spur Westwood Centre, Lucky Maphumulo

This month’s Bust Of  the Month has been awarded to Capt. RR Maharaj and Warrant Officer Desen Pillay  for the arrests of two suspects caught carrying stolen property. The one suspect surrendered but the other was chased over a distance of more than 5km from the N3 to the KFC in Sherwood in the rain by W/O Desan Pillay. Such is the dedication of Westville Police to bring criminals to book! Well done and thanks to Coyote Canyon Spur, Westwood Centre for sponsoring this well deserved Bust of the Month.

Westville Crime Prevention made an excellent arrest on the 6th April 2011 of two suspected housebreakers.  Members under the command of Capt RR Maharaj were patrolling Westville

and when crossing the Bristol Road bridge spotted the two suspects walking on the N3 carrying property. They drove down to Derwent Road and the members braved traffic to approach the duo.

The one suspect who was carrying a large object wrapped in a sheet stopped immediately and surrendered while the second took off running. Warrant Officer Desen Pillay took off after him

and a long foot chase ensued.  The suspect refused to stop and W/O Pillay chased him, running from the N3 to the KFC in Sherwood at 45th Cutting. Over 5 kilometres in rain!

Such is the dedication of Westville Police to bring criminals to book.  The parcel being carried turned out to be a stolen Plasma television and investigations are underway to find out from

where it was stolen.  In the meantime, the two suspects will be charged with possession of stolen property and will appear in court soon. A further development in the arrest is that one of the suspects has been positively linked to a house robbery that occurred in 2007 !!
Const. Stephen Clark

Constable Stephen Clark (WSAPS) accepts the meal vouchers to the value of R500 from Owner of Spur Westwood Centre,

Bruce Geneson on behalf of Constables Johnson and Goga.

This month’s Bust Of  the Month has been awarded to Constable Johnson and Constable  Goga  for their part in the recent dangerous car chase that took place from Blair Atholl Road into Durban resulting in the arrest of one criminal and death of another in a shootout  where a number weapons, including AK’s  were seized, risking their lives in the process. Very brave work indeed by Westville SAPS.
Their photos have not appeared for security reasons.

Recovery of firearms in Westville

Right: Kevin Harvey (Chairman of the Westville CPF)  being presented with the meal vouchers to the value of R500 on behalf of Constable Morgan Govender. Left: Bruce Geneson (Owner of Spur Westwood Centre)

The SPUR WESTWOOD BUST OF THE MONTH goes to Constable Morgan Govender who followed up on a lead, arrested a businessman and recovered 12 firearms.

The accused ran a security company and part of the firearms permits only allowed for the weapons to be stored aboard a ship. He, however, had the weapons lying around in his home, most of which were not even in a safe. This is a potential danger to the public at large, as those firearms could have easily been stolen. The Firearms Control Act 2000 is very clear as to how firearms are to be stored.

Const. Morgan Govender rightly deserves the honour of December Bust of the Month and thanks to Spur Coyote Canyon for sponsoring the prize of meal vouchers.

Const. Govender’s photo has not appeared for security reasons.