Criminal pretends to be jogger

2008-05-19 08:59

Amelia de Milander

Grahamstown - If police are on your trail and even farmers and farmworkers team up to catch you, you need to get creative.

Then it would make sense to take your clothes off quickly and, wearing only shorts, pretend to be an innocent jogger busy with your morning exercise routine.

That was exactly what a suspect did on Thursday morning, after he and two accomplices had run from the Grahamstown crime prevention unit the previous night on the N2 between Grahamstown and Peddie.

Last Wednesday, police had been busy with vehicle inspections when the driver of a vehicle saw them, made a U-turn and sped off.

The driver and his two passengers eventually pulled off the road, the men jumped out, grabbed something from the boot, ran into the bushes and began shooting at the police.

'Jogger' was spotted and nabbed

Captain Jetta du Preez said that they had found nothing except a toiletry bag and a suspected stolen firearm in the vehicle.

"The police called in as much backup as possible to find the fugitives and we also asked local farmers and farmworkers to help," said Du Preez.

The suspected "jogger" was noticed by the farming community about 11:00 on Thursday about 30km from Grahamstown and was overpowered and handed to police.

Jetta said: "He probably wanted to make it seem as if he were just an ordinary resident jogging next to the road, but farmers and farm workers are very aware of strangers in their area and immediately became suspicious and acted accordingly."

The man was taken to Mthatha police station for questioning. As far as was known he had not been charged yet and the other two suspects had not been caught yet.

Du Preez said the fugitives should be regarded as armed and very dangerous: "About 70 officers are still looking for them."

- Die Burger