Notorious gang is on the prowl again
There has also been no indication that they focus their attention on any particular demographic - anyone seems to be fair game.
MALALANE – The Malalane Community Policing Forum (CPF) is urgently warning residents of the entire N4 Corridor zone – Malalane, Hectorspruit, Komatipoort and every rural village – to be on special alert. The area is again at increased risk of armed intrusion and robberies.
A gang of men, who had been positively identified as Mozambique citizens, which terrorised the area last year, is on the loose again.
Their history of rape, murder and armed robbery is being repeated, with their well-known brutal operational method recently recognised in the farm attack on 72-year-old Neville Eekhout, manager of Althorpe Farm in the Kaapmuiden district.
Eekhout was burnt with a scalding iron. Victims robbed in their homes in Barberton were similarly assaulted for information.
Two of the gang leaders were killed by police during a robbery in February last year, but the suspected leader got away and the gang disappeared for a while.
According to Mel Preddy of Malalane Against Crime (MAC), local security companies and the CPF are of the opinion that the leader has new members and are on the prowl again.
These extremely dangerous men have recently been active in the Barberton area and are out to steal electronics and flat-screen television sets, gold jewellery, cellphones, weapons and money and will stop at nothing.
They have been traced from Barberton to Lebombo, but it is believed that their renewed reign of terror will include the entire area and it is not a racial issue. They rob, rape and kill despite colour.
There has also been no indication that they focus their attention on any particular demographic – anyone seems to be fair game. Business people who are perceived to take money home after work, have proven a popular target in the past.
Each incident recorded so far, has revealed that the gang makes a run for the Lebombo border post afterwards. Vehicles other than those stolen, may also be involved.
The warning is serious, given recent incidents in the Nkomazi area and Barberton.
Safety Tips from the CPF:
• Heed your surroundings. Even something as banal as human faeces in the garden can indicate the presence of intruders, or imminent plans to break in. If you see strange people lurking about aimlessly, report it to the SAPS immediately or inform your security company. They will investigate.
• Keep a list of all marketable electronics, with serial numbers. List your cellular numbers. List your vehicle registration numbers. You will forget them under stress. Given these, prosecutions can lead to convictions which are the ultimate purpose of any arrest.
• Keep an emergency contact list. Include the SAPS, your security company and friends/relatives. Do it on paper. Cellphones get stolen. Storing critical numbers only there will help nobody. Lives may be at stake.
To be added to the Malalane Against Crime emergency notification list, send an email with your name, town/farm, street name, cell number, own email address to mac.malalane@gmail.com Information will be held strictly private.
Emergency contact numbers:
– SAPS Malalane: 013-790-2721/0
– SAPS Komatipoort: 013-793-7321
– MAC: 084-666-2468.
