Parly town housebreakers held

2003-06-17 20:39

Cape Town - Three men and a 15-year-old were arrested after a spate of housebreakings in the parliamentary complex of Acacia Park, Western Cape deputy provincial police commissioner Mzwandile Petros said on Tuesday.

Last week Acacia Park was plunged into darkness after vandals stole an electricity cable.

In April this year Democratic Alliance MP Nelson Raju found his home had been broken into. The thieves got away with CDs, a TV set, clothes and cufflinks. Several bottles from Raju's wine and spirits collection were also taken.

Petros said police arrested an 18-year-old from Nyanga after he broke into a house in the complex last Friday. Three other burglars managed to evade capture.

After further investigations two more suspects aged 18 and 19 were arrested in Khayelitsha, while the 15-year-old youth, thought to be the mastermind behind the housebreakings, was arrested in Khayelitsha on Saturday.

All four made a brief appearance in the Goodwood magistrate's court on Tuesday and will remain in custody until their next appearance later this month.

Petros said the youth had previously been found guilty of several housebreakings in Acacia Park in 2002. He was sent on a six-week rehabilitation course for youth offenders.

Petros said that since the beginning of this year 18 housebreakings were reported in Acacia Park and the possibility that this group of four might have been involved in several of the incidents was being investigated.

- SAPA