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Durban – Two gunmen believed to be connected to a gang involved in a host of violent crimes in KwaZulu-Natal were arrested on Sunday in a blitz against organised crime overseen by provincial police commissioner Mmamonnye Ngobeni.
So far the operation has netted 17 suspects over the past week – all linked to murders, robberies and hijackings.
On Sunday, as
police spokesman Captain Thulani Zwane and Colonel Bongani Khumalo, cluster commissioner for Inanda, were holding a press briefing on the success of the operation a shootout was taking place in KwaDabeka outside Pinetown.
Khumalo said the police had gone to KwaDabeka after receiving a tipoff that suspects who had stolen R400 000 from the Bridge City Mall in KwaMashu were having a party.
Police surrounded a low-cost house but, during the shootout, some suspects escaped.
“We were able to arrest two of them. The house belonged to one of the suspects. We recovered two vehicles, a Corsa and a BMW,” said Zwane.
Zwane said Ngobeni formed a task team after noticing how robbers were targeting Spar Supermarkets, pension pay points and liquor outlets.
He said seven suspects were arrested after a shootout with police at a house of a traditional healer in Maphumulo outside Stanger last Thursday.
“Police found them with the traditional healer where they had gone to cleanse themselves in order to protect themselves from being arrested. They had allegedly robbed a Spar in Maphumulo,” said Zwane.
The suspects who were arrested last week would appear in Maphumulo, Ntuzuma and Pinetown Magistrate’s courts.
In a separate incident Sapa reports that two suspected drug dealers – a man and a woman – were arrested at a flat in Illovo Beach at the weekend.
“The man was found in possession of R50 000 and drugs,” police said.
The police then went to another flat in Umhlanga, which the man was renting, and found R150 000 and 500 ecstasy tablets.
The two will appear in the Durban Magistrate’s Court today.
The Mercury
