‘TV gang’ continues crime spree

THREE more homes were broken into yesterday as a gang continued its crime spree across Port Elizabeth.

Yesterday morning, a gun safe and two bigscreen television sets were stolen in three separate burglaries, while on Tuesday five bigscreen sets were stolen in other incidents.

At 4pm yesterday, three men were taken in for questioning after the vehicle they were driving in was stopped in Korsten and a plasma television set allegedly found inside.

All the break-ins are believed to have been carried out by the same gang, which primarily targets television sets.

In one instance yesterday, the gang was spotted speeding off in a white Hyundai i20.

The latest spate of break-ins comes only days after two men, believed to be part of the gang, were nabbed after police spotted them carrying a television set out of a house in Westering.

In one case yesterday, the thieves managed to rip a safe – with four firearms inside – out of the wall before speeding off.

At 9am, the front door of a house in Sunridge Park was kicked open and a television set was stolen. An hour later, a house in Broadwood was also hit.

Atlas Security’s Monty Montgomery said in the Broadwood attack a gardener was held hostage and hit with a spade.

“They then broke open the security gate and dismantled the front door. The entire episode took minutes,” he said. A television and the gun safe were removed. At 11am, men broke into a house in Lorraine by kicking open the back door.

“They only moved the television. The robbers fled empty-handed,” Montgomery said.

He said the modus operandi had been identical to that of a group who had broken into two homes on Tuesday and about 30 since the beginning of the month.

He referred to the arrest earlier this week of two men who allegedly broke into a house in Westering.

“This just proves that the group is very large and is probably linked to more cases than anyone knows.

“The fact that two are arrested and another two simply take their place shows that this group know exactly what they are doing,” he said.

“We also know they are well funded as they are using several rental vehicles to commit the crimes,” he said.

Police spokeswoman Captain Sandra Janse van Rensburg said detectives were still gathering evidence.