Heavy blow for airport gang?
The police are still investigating leads that might lead to further arrests of the so called ‘airport robbers’ syndicate.
A syndicate targeting Pretorians and others picking up visitors from OR Tambo International airport might have been dealt a heavy blow.
Two men were shot dead in Gezina on Sunday and a third was wounded when they tried to rob a group arriving from the airport. Indications were that they could have been following the group.
National police spokesperson Colonel Vish Naidoo said the police could not confirm beyond a shadow of a doubt that these men were part of the ‘airport robbers’ syndicate, but this possibility could also not be ruled out.
“In most of the instances where this particular syndicate were involved, the same modus operandi was used. The victims were followed back home from the OR Tambo airport and robbed,” he said.
The police said on Monday that the ‘airport robbers’ syndicate had been operating since 2009 — or possibly earlier — and investigations into its movements were still ongoing.
Naidoo said the robberies committed by the syndicate were few and far between.
“We made previous arrests and had successful convictions as early as 2009, then they stop for a long period of time and then picked up again,” Naidoo said.
Sunday’s robbery attempt happened in Gezina in 17th and 18th Avenue near Haarhoff Street around 17:15.
“It was later established that the female victim, who is the occupant of the house in Haarhoff Street, had picked up her two Angolan visitors from OR Tambo Airport and returned home with them,” Naidoo said.
“As she drove into the driveway the men confronted them and demanded jewellery and their bags.”
Naidoo said a team comprising members of national crime intelligence, the national investigation unit, the Hawks and the Gauteng K9 and tracker team responded to an armed robbery involving a blue BMW in the Moot.
The team was on a joint intelligence driven operation.
During the operation, the team split up when one of the members saw a BMW fitting the description of the robbers’ vehicle outside the targeted house where a robbery was already in progress.
“The entire team was summoned and when they tried to engage the suspects, the shootout ensued. Police recovered a .38 special revolver and a pistol which was being used by the robbers.”
Naidoo said the BMW was used by the robbers was stolen in an armed robbery in Boschkop earlier this month.
Naidoo said the police would do a profile on the culprits and the recovered firearms would be sent for ballistic testing to determine if they had been used in other crimes.
“The incident tonight is indicative of the tireless work that our police officers have been doing to curb this problem,” said Naidoo.
“We are hopeful that other such potential robbers would be mindful of both our intelligence capacity and reaction team and refrain from criminality.”
Naidoo said the police were on top of the situation and the police are pro-active in their attempts to smash the syndicate.
“It is very unfortunate that Sunday’s event led to the death of two people but we are fortunate that none of our officers were shot and killed during shootout.”
He said the third robber is still under police guard in a serious condition at a local state hospital.
Last year, a Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) national, Julie Kalala, was shot dead on her way back from the OR Tambo airport.
Brooklyn police spokesperson Captain Colette Weilbach said at the time three men travelling in a white Opel Astra rammed their car into Kalala’s vehicle on her way back from the airport.
Kalala and her friend were forced out of the car.
The men stole luggage, jewellery and $1 000. When Julie confronted them about taking her mother’s passport, one of the men shot her in the stomach.
She died from on her way to the hospital. Kalala was a second-year marketing student at the Tshwane University of Technology.
Also read:
One robber in hospital, two dead
Three alleged so-called airport robbers shot dead
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