Reporter – Murray Williams
Police have tracked down and arrested a Cape Town man who made numerous anonymous threats to blow up railway lines and train stations. Warrant Officer Clive Muller, of the Diep River SAPS, said the calls had been made from Telkom payphones between Monday and Friday last week. Colonel Jorina Zandberg, the commander of the visible policing railway unit, told the Cape Argus the calls had been made to the Transport Management Centre (TMC) in Goodwood, and had included threats to blow up railway lines and stations, and shoot train drivers. The calls caused “massive delays”, Zandberg said, because the entire precinct had to be declared “safe” before the trains were permitted to resume their trips. Zandberg set up a task team to bring an end to what Muller described as a reign of terror. Working closely with operators at the TMC, police managed to track where the calls had been made from, and begin recording incoming calls from the payphones. An undercover policeman was deployed at the locations from where calls were made and last Friday at 6.15pm a suspect, 49, was arrested near Clivedon Court in Main Road, Diep River. The man appeared in court on Monday on 13 counts of bomb threats. Police reported that he had been released on R1000 bail.