DURING the early hours of Tuesday (August 3), SAPS members were greeted with bullets when they entered a hotel room in the Point area occupied by suspected murderers and extortionists. Police were reportedly on the trail of the suspects who were linked to a string of criminal activities, and the gun battle ended with six fatalities.
According to SAPS spokesperson Colonel Robert Netshiunda, “Police were tracing suspects who shot five people and killed four of them execution-style on Siyaphambili Road in Tshelimnyama in Mariannhill on Sunday night. Five men were seated on the side of the road, drinking alcohol, when the suspects arrived in a vehicle armed with pistols and a rifle and ordered the victims to lie down before shooting them on the backs of their heads.”
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“Police followed information that the suspects were in hiding in Newlands East, and upon arrival, further intelligence was collected that the suspects were at a rented holiday apartment on South Beach Avenue in the Point area of Durban. When police announced their presence at the apartment, the suspects opened fire, and a shoot-out ensued. All six suspects were shot and fatally wounded during the shoot-out. No police officer sustained any injuries,” Netshiunda said.
He added that the suspects were also linked with a triple murder where three men were shot and killed near a tuckshop on Minitown main road in Mpumalanga Township in Hammersdale on Friday afternoon.
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“They were also linked with a Friday evening robbery at a shop on the ground floor of the apartment they were found in. It is also suspected that the suspects were involved in the illicit drug trade. Prior to a thorough search of the apartment, police had found three firearms in the possession of the suspects,” he said.
He concluded that the police are now also ‘hot on the heels’ of the person who booked the room for the suspects.
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