An intelligence driven operation saw four robbery suspects being arrested four days after a robbery in Ekuvukeni.
On Sunday, January 12, at about 1pm, nine armed men walked into a shop in the Uitvaal area of Ekuvukeni, their motive being to rob the owner.
At the time of the robbery, the shop was in the process of receiving a delivery.
The suspects demanded the keys to the safe and helped themselves to cash, television sets, CCTV cameras and other items.
After taking everything of value they could find, they went on to hijack the Toyota Hilux delivery vehicle with the delivery men still inside.
The moment the suspects left, the owner of the shop made contact with Ekuvukeni police.
A patrol vehicle was immediately dispatched and set off in the direction in which the suspects had fled. At the same time, backup was summoned from Ladysmith, and the Ladysmith Tactical Response Team (TRT) and K9 Unit responded. They soon recovered the hijacked vehicle, which had been abandoned in the Dalikosane area.
The two delivery men were unharmed, but stock had been taken from the vehicle. Information received indicated that the group had used a minibus taxi to make their escape.
Police soon tracked down the taxi.
With police hot on their heels, the suspects abandoned the taxi and fled on foot into the dense-foliage-covered mountains. The taxi was seized as evidence.
Four days later, an intelligence-driven operation netted four suspects in the Komane area, which is not far from where the crime was committed.
During the arrests, two handguns were recovered.
It is suspected that the firearms are the same that were used during the robbery.
The guns will be sent for ballistic testing to ascertain whether they have been used in any other crimes in the Republic of South Africa.
The suspects have since appeared in the Ekuvukeni Magistrate’s Court on charges of armed robbery, hijacking and possession of unlicensed firearms.
They have been remanded into custody.
Detectives are in the process of tracing the other suspects and are confident that they will be behind bars soon.
