Thirteen people holding a prayer meeting at a Westville home were robbed on Tuesday night.
Mike Myers, a spokesperson for Mobi-Claw 911, said four men armed with firearms and knives stormed the home and robbed them of two motor vehicles, two phones and other valuables.
Lieutenant Colonel Thulani Zwane, a KwaZulu-Natal police spokesperson, said the church group members were doing bible study lessons when four suspects entered the house by forcing a door open just after 9 pm.
“At gunpoint the suspects took laptops, jewellery, TV, cellphones and two vehicles. Both vehicles were later recovered in the Chesterville area,” Zwane said.
Myers said the vehicle details were circulated to law enforcement and on the Visec Cloud license plate recognition system and a search ensued.
“In the interim members of the SAPS Westville CPF Safety Net Trauma Counselling team were notified. They attended the scene to debrief the victims. It wasn’t long before officer Carstenson of Durban Metro Police Dog unit reported that he had recovered the one stolen vehicle in Chesterville. Soon after SAPS reported that they had recovered the two phones which had been dumped on the N2 highway,” Myers said.
“Officer Carstenson who was working night duty never gave up and at just after 2am reported that he had recovered the second vehicle in Chesterville,” Myers added.
MOBI-CLAW911 control received multiple panic activations, six in total, all from clients in the same area. Experience has taught us that when this happens there is a 99.9% chance of the alert being positive.
“MC911 control room operators immediately broadcast to Law Enforcement of a possible crime in progress in the area so that they could start making their way there while the operator obtained further details. The alert was quickly dispatched via the MC911 Cyber Control,” Myers explained.
This information was relayed to Law Enforcement, JAG Security and volunteers in the area. An off duty policeman that was in the area with his wife intercepted the alert and immediately responded.