LIMPOPO – The Hawks have arrested three men after a foiled ATM bombing at a bank in a shopping complex in the Jane Furse area on Sunday.
Spokesperson for the Hawks, Capt Matimba Maluleke says the gang was arrested by the Hawks’ Serious Organised Crime Investigation team following a car chase in Middelburg. They were assisted by the members of the Tactical Response Team.
“The team had received intelligence about the planned bombing and were surveilling the area when there an explosion at the shopping complex. A group of heavily armed suspects were spotted fleeing in a vehicle and the police gave chase. Seeing that they were being chased, the suspects opened fire at the police and they retaliated. The team pursued the suspects until they crashed into a wall in Middelburg, Mpumalanga.”
Maluleke added that the three men were arrested and explosives, a firearm and the vehicle were confiscated. One of the robbers were injured in the shootout and is currently under police guard at the hospital.
“Preliminary investigations revealed that the accused had ambushed the security guards at the shopping complex and held them hostage before they used explosives to bomb five of the ATMs outside the bank.”
He says no money was taken during the incident.
Two of the three accused will appear in the Jane Furse Magistrate’s Court today (Tuesday, 18 August) on charges related to armed robbery, malicious damaged to property, possession of explosives and possession of a firearm. The third accused will appear in the same court once he has recuperated from his injuries, Maluleke said.
