9-year-old caught stealing stationery for school resumption

Some 24 hours to the opening of the school year in South Africa, a 9 year old boy was caught trying to steal a shopping basket filled with stationery while his brother, 14, kept watch.

The two boys were apprehended by a member of a special police unit in a supermarket in Verulam, Durban.

The boys were found with other stationery stolen from another supermarket in the area, spokesperson for Reaction Unit SA (Rusa) said.

Admitting to the theft, the boys said they wanted to get stationery in readiness for school resumption, Wednesday.

Police couldn’t confirm whether their parents had not bought them stationery or the brothers had spent the stationery money on other things or if they were going to sell the stationery to other pupils.

But they could confirm that their 18-year-old brother is also a serial thief.

He is said to have been arrested about 40 times in the past for theft and was just recently released from Westville Prison after serving a sentence for theft.

But pair caught stealing were lucky as the store management decided not to take any legal action..