Motorist helps police bust stock theft suspects on N2

Four men were arrested for stock theft yesterday morning on the N2 near Berlin when a motorist caught them in the act of passing the carcass of cow over a fence into a vehicle parked on the side of the highway.Shane Sangerhaus said he was on his way to East London from Breidbach when he saw a stationary car with four occupants and two men near the fence carrying green plastic bags.

“The two men were busy passing green bags over the fence. The boot of the Mazda was open and there were four occupants inside,” said Sangerhaus.

Sangerhaus said when he got closer he saw a cow’s head wrapped in one of the green bags.

“I slowly drove past the vehicle and saw the carcass of the cow,” he said.

Sangerhaus said he stopped a few metres in front of the sus pects and called his friend, Vaughn Ahlschlager, who owns a dairy farm in Berlin.

“The suspects must have become suspicious when I stopped because the driver who was standing near the bonnet of the car suddenly got inside and drove past me.

“I followed them and tried to push them off the road. When we got near Fort Jackson Vaughn arrived and we managed to block the vehicle,” said Sangerhaus.

Ahlschlager, who owns Lilly Stone dairy and beef farm, said while rushing to the scene he alerted police.

“A few minutes after we had blocked the vehicle the police arrived. They were taken back to the scene where the carcass wrapped in green bags was lying,” said Ahlschlager.

The four suspects were arrested on the scene.

The owner of the cow, Amanda Antoni, whose family rents a farm in Berlin, said it was the fifth cow that had been killed in the past two months.

“I am glad they were arrested, these people are killing us,” said Antoni.

The owner of the car, used as a taxi, Lulama Ndamani, said she was  unaware her driver was involved in such a crime.

“When he told me he was arrested I thought it must be for traffic fines,” said Ndamani.

Ahlschlager said 14 cows were stolen from his farm since last year.

“Each cow cost about R13000 and that was a big loss for us. I am relieved that finally an arrest had been made,” he said.

Mdantsane police spokesman Lieutenant Nkosiko Mzuku said police had reacted swiftly after receiving a tip-off from the farmer and arrested the men.

The suspects are aged from 40 to 45 yearsold. “We are experiencing a challenge when it comes to stock theft and would like to urge the members of the public to alert the police when they come across such incident,” said Mzuku.