LIMPOPO – Five men, aged between 19 and 28, are expected to appear in the Thohoyandou and Vuwani magistrate’s courts today.
The men were arrested yesterday by a task team, which comprised members of the Crime Intelligence Unit, Tactical Response Team (TRT) as well as first responders and detectives.
Police Spokesperson, Brig Motlafela Mojapelo said in a statement that the men terrorised communities under the Thohoyandou, Levubu and Vuwani policing precincts.
“They were arrested in the early hours of Thursday morning, following a series of armed robberies that were mostly targeted at the Indian business community and other foreign nationals. The police received information about the hideouts of the men and the task team was assembled to trace them,” Mojapelo explained.
He said the men were arrested at separate locations at Gondeni la ha Mabilu and Tshisahulu villages.
“The last man was nabbed at Itsani village at about 04:00 yesterday. A bakkie, motor vehicle and a pistol, which was allegedly robbed from its lawful owner at Itsani during a robbery last month, were confiscated. The men have been positively linked to 11 robberies in which properties worth thousands of Rand were stolen,” Mojapelo added.
He said the men could be linked to other similar cases as police investigations are continuing.
“These arrests will send a clear message to other robbers that the police will always be relentless when confronting the scourge of violent crimes anywhere in the province,” said Provincial Police Commissioner, Lt Gen Nneke Ledwaba.