Alleged CIT robbers are fatally shot following a shootout with the police and private security officers in Witbank. Picture: Saps
In a day of fatal shootouts between police and alleged criminals, five alleged cash-in-transit (CIT) robbers were killed in an incident in Witbank on Wednesday.
According to Gauteng police spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Mavela Masondo, the alleged CIT robbers were fatally shot by police from different units and private security officers in the Tasbet Park suburb of Witbank in Mpumalanga before midday.
Masondo said the team received information that the suspects were driving to Mpumalanga and that there was an attempted heist that had just occurred in Witbank.
“They followed the suspects to a safe house at Tasbet Park. While approaching the house, the suspects, who were already dispersing, driving in a Toyota Quantum, saw the police and started shooting,” he said.
Following a counterattack by the police and private security guards, five individuals were pronounced dead at the scene, eight others were taken into custody, and roughly nine others were able to escape.
According to Masondo, the team recovered five rifles (three AK 47s, one AR-15, and one R5), two pistols, and four vehicles (three hijacked as per cases from Jeppe: Mazda CX5, Yeoville: Audi Q5, Rabie Ridge: Haval, and another Mazda CX5 with a tampered engine number).
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The suspects will be charged with murder, attempted murder, and possession of prohibited and unlicensed firearms and ammunition, as well as with CIT-related offences.
Earlier on Wednesday morning, nine suspects were shot and fatally wounded during a shootout with the police in Desai, Mariannhill.
Police officials operationalized intelligence regarding a group of eleven suspects who have been terrorising Mariannhill residents and the surrounding districts, according to Colonel Robert Netshiunda.
The suspects were also sought in connection with a case of rape in which they allegedly gang-raped a girl and made her mother watch the ordeal during a house robbery. They were also on the police’s radar for serious and violent crimes in the area.
When police caught up with them, intelligence uncovered that the suspects were plotting to execute a hit on someone.
“Although the police were ambushed when they erroneously knocked at the wrong house, the tactically astute officers managed to retaliate and neutralise the threat, with none of them suffering any injuries,” Netshiunda said.
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