The police are called upon to urgently recapture the six men who escaped from the Hazyview Police Station holding cells on Sunday.
Mpumalanga Community Safety, Security and Liaison MEC Vusi Shongwe spoke out strongly about this incident and asked police management to investigate the circumstances surrounding it.
He said this should be done to ensure the incident is not repeated as it could endanger the lives of innocent people.
“Laxity cannot be accepted when police are dealing with dangerous suspects as this does not only compromise the image of the police, it also affect community’s faith in the police to deal with dangerous criminals,” Shongwe said. He continued by saying that police need to be more vigilant when interacting with crime suspects in order to protect their own lives and those of other law-abiding citizens.
The MEC stated that suspects who escape from custody pose a threat to both the community that they escaped into and their surviving victims.
According to police reports, the six suspects escaped when police officers were serving food through a security grill door to prisoners awaiting trial. The suspects overpowered the officials, took the cell keys and escaped.
Shongwe urged community members to help the police with information that may lead to the successful arrest of the suspects.
Read the story on the suspects’ escape here.
