KZN ‘most wanted suspect’ arrested

Dubbed the ‘most wanted suspect’, the man was arrested yesterday in KwaDlangezwa, near the University of Zululand’s campus, after two years on the run, Zululand Observer reported.

Members of Empangeni Crime Intelligence, together with the Rapid Response Police Unit: KZN, began the search following a tip-off about a stolen vehicle the suspect had been driving.

This had led the joint task team to a homestead in Nkonjane area at about 2pm, where the vehicle had been identified – a blue VW Polo hijacked in October at Phoenix, outside Durban – police said.

Police added the suspect had been arrested and charged for possession of a stolen motor vehicle, while an occupant in the car and a third person in the vicinity had been searched at the scene.

Captain Mbongeni Mdlalose said the suspect had appeared at the Empangeni Magistrates’ Court yesterday to face charges linked by means of fingerprints to other cases, including armed robbery, business robbery, attempted murder, house breaking, hijacking, theft of motor vehicle and stock theft.

Nurse Zandile Mbambo attends to Constable Mbongeni Hlongwane who was wounded during a shoot-out with robbers at Five Ways Mall in Empangeni last year. Pic: Zululand Observer.

Constable Mbongeni Hlongwane had been wounded during a shoot-out at Five Ways Mall in Empangeni in May last year.

In a separate incident, three of the five men involved in an armed robbery were arrested in Glenvista in the south of Johannesburg in November.

It was alleged five males held up residents and contractors at a house on Ouderberg Street, in Glenvista, at about 8.45am.

They had made off with cellphones and other goods while the victims were tied up with cables, police said.

– Caxton News Service