Two men arrested for stealing motor vehicle equipment worth R17 million are set to appear in the Wynberg Magistrate’s Court on Monday.
Lansdowne cops got a skrik on Friday morning when a routine inspection of the industrial area resulted in the bust of the ouens allegedly linked to a truck hijacking in Table Bay Harbour.
Rafique Foflonker of the Community Police Forum says officers were conducting routine inspections of second-hand dealers when they came across a stash of catalytic converters worth R17 million.
“They arrived at the premises in Mercury Crescent, which is part of an industrial area in Ottery. On arrival they found these catalytic converters,” Foflonker explained.
“These converters are used to trap excess fuel from exiting the exhaust pipe of a vehicle.
“They are very expensive with the lowest range starting at about R16 000 and on the higher end it’s up to R35 000.
“This stash was Mercedes Benz converters and what happens is if you grind through it you will find a honeycomb-like structure made of various precious metals.
“They then crush this down into a powder and extract the metals and each converter gets you between R15 000 and R20 000,” he added.
Lansdowne station commander Wynand Muller confirmed the bust, adding: “The stash found is worth R17 million and in the investigation we found out that they were planning on exporting the metal from the converters to another country.
“It was also found that the converters were stolen during a truck hijacking in Table Bay Harbour earlier in the week.
“A 29-year-old Zimbabwean national and a 34-year-old man will appear in the Wynberg Magistrate’s Court on charges of possession of stolen goods.
“When questioned, they claimed they knew nothing about where the converters came from and only that they were instructed to cut it up,” Muller concluded.
dailyvoice@inl.co.za