Fleeing taxi driver, later owner charged for illegal guns
ALEXANDRA – High-speed chase of taxi ends with driver and owner arrested.
A taxi owner and his driver are appearing in the Alexandra Magistrates’ Court on charges of illegal possession of firearms.
Joburg Metro police’s evidence presented in court stated that the suspects were arrested in Alexandra an hour apart on 19 August after an alert was circulated about their involvement in a business robbery in Rabie Ridge, Midrand earlier in the day. The firearms are suspected to have been used in the crime.
The 35-year-old driver was apprehended after a high-speed chase with the Metro officers who spotted his Toyota Avanza wanted in connection the robbery moving along Vincent Tshabalala Road. The 28-year-old owner was nabbed later at his home in Tsutsumani.
When the officers activated the blue lights to stop the driver, he instead sped off, resulting in the chase until 17 Avenue where he stopped the vehicle and fled on foot. The officers pursued and apprehended him. They took him back to the vehicle where, behind the pedals, they found a gun with serial numbers filed off.
He had seemingly tossed it there when he fled. He revealed the owner of the vehicle through interrogation before being taken to the police cells and the vehicle was towed to a police pound.
The vehicle owner was traced to his home in Tsutsumani where he was searched and arrested after a gun with serial numbers also filed off and three bullets were found on him. Both guns were sent for ballistic testing.
Both men will appear in court on 28 August pending further hearings at Tembisa Magistrates’ Court for the alleged robbery.
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