Eastern Cape police have arrested eight suspects, including a foreign national, who they believe were behind a spate of armed robberies at foreign-owned spaza shops in the Mqanduli area.
Provincial police commissioner, Lieutenant-General Liziwe Ntshinga, said the breakthrough came on Wednesday with the arrest of a suspect on the road between Coffee Bay and Kwaaiman, by alert Coffee Bay police members.
"Yesterday at about noon, alert members of the Coffee Bay police station whilst on patrol between Coffee Bay and Kwaaiman noticed a suspicious and nervous looking male hiking alongside the road. The members stopped and searched him and found in his possession a 9 mm pistol," General Ntshinga said.
"After he was questioned it was discovered that he was part of a group that had minutes earlier, robbed a foreign national at Kwaaiman Junction. The businessman was on his way from Mthatha with stock that he bought for his shop in Kwaaiman," she said.
"The suspect was further questioned and gave police information on a second suspect who was in cahoots with him. Members proceeded to Luthubeni in Mqanduli where the second suspect, a foreign national himself, was arrested".
"Further interrogation of the two suspects led the Police to Chris Hani settlement in Mthatha where six more suspects were arrested and a second firearm recovered together with the stolen property that was robbed earlier the day. It was further discovered that this group was on their way to Engcobo to rob a well-known store in town," said General Ntshinga.
"One of the suspects has been identified and linked to a robbery at Boxer stores in Mqanduli earlier this year and a second suspect linked to a robbery at one of the Spars in Mthatha earlier this month. Two vehicles a white Toyota Corolla and a red BMW were confiscated," she added.
All eight suspects between the ages of 22 to 47 years are detained for Armed Robbery and will apprear in court soon. Investigation into this group and their activities are continuing.
