The station commander of Ivory Park SAPS, Brig David Mbongeni Ngcobo, has welcomed the arrest of three suspects in Ivory Park Extension 2.
The arrest followed the recovery of three unlicensed firearms and 17 rounds of live ammunition after a tip-off from community members. Ngcobo is positive that the arrest of the trio, two men in their 20s and a 48-year-old woman, will bring down the number of robberies in the area as it is strongly suspected that the suspects may be linked to some of the robberies in the area.
Police members on patrol received information from local patrollers that there were some people in the area known to have firearms, and that they may be responsible for the robberies in the area. Upon finding one of the suspects, the police soon learnt that those firearms do exist and were in the possession of the woman known to the suspect. It was established that the suspects collected the firearms from the woman when there was a crime to be committed.
On arrival at the woman’s address in Ivory Park Ext 2, the officers, in the presence of one of the suspects, introduced themselves. The suspect then demanded the firearms they left in her possession and she took them out. She was arrested with the suspect for illegal possession of unlicensed firearms and ammunition.
Based on the information provided by the suspect, the officers then proceeded to another address, also in Extension 2, where they recovered a home-made gun and arrested another male suspect. All in all, three firearms and 17 rounds of live ammunition were recovered.
“I would like to express my heartfelt appreciation to the community members for the information and our brave community patrollers for acting the way they did in assisting us to recover all of the firearms and the subsequent arrests,” said Ngcobo.
The three suspects will be charged with possession of illegal possession of firearms and ammunition and are expected to appear in the Thembisa Magistrate’s Court soon.
There will be further investigation on whether the suspects were, in anyway, involved in a spate of other crimes, mostly robberies, in Ivory Park and the surrounding areas.
For any information relating to crime, please call 08600 10111 or SMS Crime Line at 32211.
