Suspected bank robbers bite the dust
Several criminals who had allegedly planned to commit a robbery in the Carletonville area died in a shootout on the N14 highway towards Ventersdorp on Monday afternoon.
According to the Hawks spokesperson, Colonel Katlego Mogale, law enforcers received information that suspects in a silver-grey Toyota and white VW Polo were planning to commit a robbery in or near Carletonville.
“We operationalised the information and observed the vehicles driving around various banks in Carletonville. As they left the Carletonville area, the integrated law enforcement team tactically proceeded to try and stop the suspects,” says Mogale.
When the criminals saw the law enforcement team pulling them over, they opened fire. The team was made up of the Hawks Tactical Operations Management Section (TOMS), the Gauteng Traffic Saturation Unit, staff in the Gauteng traffic chopper, MDOC CI CIT Team, PHO Crime Intelligence, Tracker Connect, CAP Specialised Operations, FRS-Falcon Risk Solutions, Badboyz Security, Absa Investigation and the Insurance Crime Bureau.
In the ensuing shootout, the team fatally wounded five of the suspects, aged between 25 and 35, and arrested a female suspect. The suspects’ vehicles were positively linked to three cases in Groblersdal, Secunda and Hercules in Pretoria.
By print time, it was still unclear where the suspects were from or when and where the woman would appear in court.
