POLOKWANE, October 21 (ANA) – Police in Limpopo have made a “milestone achievement” in a concerted effort to fight violent crime throughout the province, especially focusing on farm attacks, house robberies, and car hijackings, the South African Police Service (SAPS) said on Saturday.
This followed an intensive manhunt by a joint SAPS task team for the suspects involved in a recent farm attack, Lt-Col Moatshe Ngoepe said.
The task team, led by SAPS Polokwane policing cluster commander Maj-Gen Sam Mokgonyana, arrested three suspects aged between 22 and 25 following a tip-off from members of the community.
A group of armed men attacked a home owner on Leeukuil plot in the Westernburg policing area outside Polokwane at about 11.30pm on Thursday.
“It is alleged that the owner of the plot heard his dogs barking and went outside to investigate, where he saw about two unknown suspects armed with firearms on his premises.
“He took his rifle and fired a warning shot and the suspects ran away. It is alleged they later came back shortly after the incident and started to shoot random shots towards the house, damaging the glass door. The owner then fired back and subsequently one suspect aged around 30 was fatally shot. The other suspects ran away and disappeared into the bushes.
“These suspects were cornered at Makgofe village outside Polokwane in a rented house. When they noticed the police they started shooting at our members and the police retaliated, where one suspect was shot and all three were subsequently arrested,” Ngoepe said.
During the arrest, various items were recovered, including three firearms, 24 cellphones, a sport bicycle, a Mercedes Benz car key, three plasma TV’s, a laptop computer, five speakers, four DVD players, four spotlights, two digital cameras, a refrigerator, and an Identity document.
The wounded suspect was under police guard in hospital and the one shot dead during the farm attack had yet to be identified.
“The arrested suspects may be linked to more than 20 cases in some parts of this province, especially in the Seshego, Westernburg, and Polokwane policing areas, as the police investigations are still unfolding,” Ngoepe said.
The suspects would appear in the Seshego and Polokwane Magistrate’s Courts respectively on Monday on various charges, ranging from house robbery and attempted murder to possession of unlicensed firearms and ammunition and possession of suspected stolen property.
– African News Agency (ANA)
