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Durban – A man believed to be the leader of a notorious gang that has been terrorising communities across Durban \u2013 robbing them at gunpoint and hijacking cars \u2013 was killed by police after a car chase and shoot-out on the M25 near KwaMashu on Wednesday. <\/p>\n
Nkululeko Sithole, 23, alleged leader of the Casper Gang, was wanted for robberies in Durban North, Westville, Mayville, Bellair, Pinetown and Umbilo and on the Bluff. <\/p>\n
Police spokesman Vincent Mdunge said the gang had hijacked a car and were then spotted by police on the highway. <\/p>\n
The dog unit tried to stop the gang on the M25, but they sped away, he said. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe police chased the car and the three suspects started shooting and the officers returned fire,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
When the police were closing in, the gang stopped on the side of the road and ran into the bush, firing at police with R4 rifles. <\/p>\n
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Sithole was chased by a police dog then shot and killed during the pursuit. His two accomplices escaped. <\/p>\n
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Mdunge declined to confirm Sithole\u2019s identity, saying his next of kin had yet to be notified. <\/p>\n
His victims would remember him from the high-speed chase with the Brighton Beach police after his gang had robbed a house in Kingsley Road on the Bluff, a policeman said on Wednesday. <\/p>\n
He was also sought for the April car chase and shoot-out that started in Pietermaritzburg, continued through Pinetown and ended in Chesterville where he and his accomplices abandoned the car and disappeared between the shacks. <\/p>\n
A policeman who has been chasing the Casper Gang for months described them as \u201cruthless\u201d and \u201cextremely dangerous\u201d. <\/p>\n
\u201cIf the victims got in their way, they hurt them,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
\u201cI have chased Casper (Sithole) several times after a house robbery, and we have had gun fights, but he was always ahead.\u201d <\/p>\n
For the last two weeks the gang was operating in Durban North, Umbilo and Mayville, the policeman said. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe intend approaching a judge for a warrant to publish the rest of the gang\u2019s pictures and names in the media,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
Robin Candy, of the Greenwood Park community police forum, said he was aware that Sithole was a wanted man. <\/p>\n
\u201cResidents can feel a little safer, he said.\u201d <\/p>\n
Candy said Durban North had been hit hard by crime in the past week with eight incidents reported. <\/p>\n
\u201cRobbers are quite willing to shoot and that makes it very difficult for residents,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s no deterrent from the justice system.\u201d <\/p>\n
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The situation was not helped by the decrease in informers who trusted police, he said. <\/p>\n
In the recent spate of incidents, armed robbers forced their way into homes, making off with anything from jewellery to digital appliances. <\/p>\n
In the latest incident, a gang of five held a domestic worker and a child at gunpoint in Monteith Place, Durban North, on Monday. <\/p>\n
Another domestic worker had also been held up and robbed by a gang of five in Marine View Avenue in Umgeni Park last Friday. <\/p>\n
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Blue Security managing director Darryn le Grange urged Durban North residents to join their neighbourhood watch. <\/p>\n
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\u201cCrime in the upper highway area was being brought under control due to an increased police presence in recent weeks and because residents joined forces with security companies. Syndicates are now looking elsewhere for targets,\u201d he said, explaining that they moved on as residents stepped up their security systems. <\/p>\n
The Mercury<\/strong> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" . File photo Durban – A man believed to be the leader of a notorious gang that has been terrorising communities across Durban \u2013 robbing them at gunpoint and hijacking cars \u2013 was killed by police after a car chase and shoot-out on the M25 near KwaMashu on Wednesday. Nkululeko Sithole, 23, alleged leader of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[8275,953,2143],"class_list":{"0":"post-20396","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-south-africa","7":"tag-durban","8":"tag-newspaper","9":"tag-the-mercury","10":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20396","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20396"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20396\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20396"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20396"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20396"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}