CARTONS of cigarettes with an estimated value of R60 000 were recovered when four men were arrested on Wednesday morning.
The four men were arrested for hijacking in Nkuthuna Road, St Wendolins, Mariannhill. According to KZN Police spokesman, Thulani Zwane, SAPS were conducting patrols in the Shallcross area when they overheard police circulate a report of a robbery from a vehicle in the area.
“They immediately proceeded to Burlington Drive, where they intercepted the vehicle, a white Hyundai.” Zwane said the men fled with the car to St Wendolins, Mariannhill.
“The information was circulated to other patrol vehicles. SAPS Malvern rendered assistance and intercepted the hijacked vehicle on Ukuthuna Road.
The men started shooting at the police and police retaliated. “The men crashed the vehicle and fled into a nearby house. One man was shot in the leg.
Zwane added that the K9 Dog Unit also rendered assistance at the scene and three men, aged between 20 and 25, were arrested. Three of the men were taken to a local hospital and one was detained at Chatsworth SAPS.
According to Zwane, the Hyundai that the men were using was stolen in October in the Chatsworth Policing Precinct.
KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Commissioner, Lt Gen Mmamonnye, commended the swift reaction of the vigilant police and the arrest of the suspects.
“The recovered firearm will be taken to ballistics to determine if it was used in any commission of crime in the country,” she said.
