Six suspects were arrested within 24 hours of a farmer being attacked and wounded on the head in Wartburg on Wednesday afternoon.
Rudolf Meyer, 53, said he was sitting in his office when he was approached by a man seeking a job. A short while later a silver-grey Volkswagen Golf with GP registration number plates stopped in front of the premises and three men got out of the vehicle and approached Meyer.
Police spokesman Colonel Vincent Mdunge said that one of them brandished a handgun and demanded cash. The suspects then ordered him into his house where they forced him to open the safe. Three firearms and R1 400 were stolen.
While Meyer was being robbed his two teenage daughters and 70-year-old mother were being detained by the robbers’ accomplices.
After robbing Meyer, one of the attackers fired two shots inside the house before leaving with his co-conspirators. Meyer was taken to hospital.
Mdunge added that later that afternoon and unbeknown to police patrolling Church Street in Pietermaritzburg, they came across the vehicle that was used in the robbery. It had stalled and two men were seated inside.
Upon conducting a random search inside the vehicle, a large number of live rounds of ammunition and R1 300 were found. Further investigations established that the vehicle had been used in the robbery and that the live rounds and cash belonged to Meyer. The two men were arrested.
Police then went to Greytown where they arrested three other suspects.
Additional information led the police to a house just outside the town, in Msinga, where they arrested the sixth suspect. He was found in possession of an illegal firearm with the serial number removed.
The police then went to a sugar cane field outside Wartburg where they recovered all three of Meyer’s firearms.
“It is believed that after the robbery, three of the suspects decided to walk and then hid the firearms in the sugar cane fields, as their getaway vehicle had mechanical problems,” said Mdunge.
