Cops crack taxi hit squad

A failed attempted hit against an Alexander Township taxi owner in Katlehong’s Mavimbela Section a fortnight ago has led to the arrest of two suspects believed to be linked to taxi wars in the region.

According to Captain Mega Ndobe, the media relations officer at the Katlehong SAPS, before they were arrested, the two had embarked on a shooting spree. It started outside the Kwesine Hotel on a Friday afternoon and turned into a high-speed Saturday night car chase from the Kwanele low-cost housing complex to Mngadi Section, where the two were finally cornered by the police.

A firearm found inside the vehicle was later linked to the Friday afternoon shooting at the Kwesine Hostel. Two men linked to the taxi industry were ambushed by unknown armed assailants after they were lured out of the hostel by a mysterious cellphone call.

“As soon as the two stepped out of the hostel, they were met by a volley of bullets which left one of them critically injured. He had to be rushed to hospital,” explained Capt Ndobe.

Later that same Friday evening, around 8pm, another taxi-linked shooting incident, which left a man seriously injured, was reported to the police in Radebe Section.

But it was Saturday night’s failed attempt on the life of a taxi owner in Mavimbela Section which set the police on the trail of the hit squad.

“Luckily, the taxi owner (who cannot be named for fear of reprisal attacks) survived the hit and managed to give the Katlehong SAPS a description of the killers and their get-away vehicle,” Ndobe said.

It was while they were following the trail of the suspects that a police crime prevention unit spotted the car at the Kwanele low-cost housing settlement. When the suspects noticed the police, they drove away at high speed towards Katehong’s Mngadi Section, where they lost control of their speeding vehicle and collided with the police car.

Ndobe said both the colour and make of the suspects’ damaged vehicle fitted the description of the get-away car at two earlier shooting incidents at Kwesine hostel and in Radebe Section later that same night. The car also fit the description of the same vehicle in which the shooters at the Kwesine Hostel and in Mavimbela Section were seen fleeing in.

He told Kathorus MAIL that the gun found in the suspects’ vehicle might be linked to the Friday shooting outside the Kwesine hostel and later that night in Radebe Section. However, this will only be verified once the ballistic test results are received.

While two of the victims are being treated at hospital (unnamed for fear of reprisals), the police will continue probing the two arrested suspects to investigate the on-going taxi violence in the region.

“We are going to do everything possible to eradicate these ruthless wars between taxi owners in the townships,” Capt. Nbobe, said.