An armed response officer happened to stumble onto a drug delivery in progress at a local prison recently. This led to the arrest of one suspect.

“Armed response officers, Rashied Johannes was responding to an alarm signal at an address on Paterson Road. The call appeared to have been a false alarm, but while he was walking back to his vehicle he noticed suspicious behavior,” says Ryan Britz, Port Elizabeth branch manager for Fidelity ADT.

“The officer observed an unknown person standing next to the perimeter fence of the North End Prison, throwing an unidentified object over the fence onto the prison compound where prisoners caught it.”

Britz says the armed response officer confronted the unknown person and asked what he had thrown over the fence. The person however denied that he had thrown anything onto the prison property.

“Our officer did not believe the explanation he was given and detained the suspect, while calling for backup and for assistance from a prison warden at the nearby gate. The suspect was searched, and cannabis was found on him.

“The items thrown onto the prison grounds were also located and found to consist of a container with cannabis, a number of cigarettes and a lighter, as well as charging cables. The items were confiscated and the suspect was taken into custody by Mount Road SAPS,” says Britz.

“Well done to our officer for going beyond the call of duty in this incident. Our operations team go through regular training to equip them with the knowledge and skills to identify suspicious behavior. The alertness officer Johannes was excellent and led to another criminal being placed behind bars.”