Muthi Fails Theft Suspects: Durban – KZN

Two suspects belong to a Theft Syndicate that operated only on weekends have been arrested by Members of Reaction Unit South Africa (RUSA) earlier today.

A male (45) from Kwa Mashu and a female (42) from Umlazi were arrested inside a supermarket where they were dropped off by a silver/grey VW Polo. The driver of the vehicle & a second suspect managed to flee.

Reaction Officers earlier this week circulated cctv images of the suspects that targeted stores only on weekends. These images were sent privately to staff at certain stores that the suspects were likely to target. Today (Sunday 7/11/2021) the RUSA Operations Center received information from supermarket staff that suspects resembling the cctv images were inside the store. RUSA Officers kept observation and arrested the suspects with several high value items that were stolen. Upon searching the suspects, Officers found a bottle of muthi tied to the females waist and a bottle tied to the arm of the male (picture 1/4). They were then positively identified as the suspects sought for several theft cases in the Durban area.

When interviewed (picture 3) both suspects informed Reaction Officers that they belonged to a syndicate that operated at busy retail stores on weekends. They further explained that the kingpin would first take them to a Witch Doctor in Umlazi – KZN who would provide them with muthi that would make them invisible to Law Enforcement. They would return to a pick up point with the stolen goods and then move on to another store robbing 15/20 stores per day. The stolen goods were then distributed to stores willing to pay a fraction of the price for the stolen items.

Both suspects are currently in detention at SAPS Verulam.