Five alleged hitmen with firearms were on Thursday afternoon arrested by police in Cato Manor outside Durban, while allegedly on the way to assassinate a high-profile individual.

Police say a resident in the area alerted them about the suspicious cars which were spotted moving around in the area.

Provincial police spokesperson Brigadier Jay Naicker says that police acted on the tip-off. “The driver was arrested not far from the scene and we believe one passenger carrying a firearm may have fled from that vehicle. The other four were arrested in these two vehicles. In the vehicles, there’s a bag containing two high calibre firearms that look like AK-47s,” adds Naicker.

MEC for Transport, Community Safety, and Liaison Sipho Hlomuka, who was at the scene, commended the efforts of the police in preventing a possible assassination.

“The person that these men were targeting is a high-profile person but we cannot give any details about the person’s identity. We must really commend and appreciate the work that has been done by the police because they have prevented a murder. It is always better to be proactive than to react. We appeal to [everyone] to work with government and the police to prevent loss of life,” says Hlomuka.

The arrest happened just a few hours before a memorial service was planned to be held outside of Wish restaurant in Florida Road where Kiernan ‘AKA’ Forbes along with his close friend Tebello ‘Tibz’ Motsoane, was assassinated a month ago.