Mi7 National Group’s Strategic Threat Response Unit today recovered 18 pallets of cement stolen from a Pietermaritzburg CBD business client through an elaborate scam.
It all started when the client contacted the Mi7 Control Room this morning, saying that he had purchased the cement from a Durban-based company.
Not having the immediate means to fetch the cement, the client contacted a transporter who had approached him for work earlier in the year – this being the first job handed to the said transporter.
Unbeknownst to the client, the transporter allegedly sub-contracted the job to a third party delivery company, but gave them a different drop-off location. That location was to another business in the Pietermaritzburg CBD. The transporter allegedly sold the goods to that business – without them knowing the items were stolen.
The client contacted Mi7 when his goods didn’t arrive as promised, and the transporter could not be contacted.
Mi7 teams used the Guardian Grid network in the CBD – a system of surveillance cameras equipped with Navic’s Automatic Number Plate Recognition software – to identify the truck which transported the items into Pietermaritzburg. Once the owner of the truck was identified, he provided the drop-off location, leading Mi7 teams to the stolen cement – which was returned to the client.
The matter was handed over to the police for further investigation.
