Hot police pursuit nails cigarette gang
The suspects were tracked down and cornered near Mtwalume, where a shoot-out ensued.
A HIGH speed chase led to the arrest of six armed robbers last Friday.
Police also seized the three vehicles in which the gunmen had been travelling and recovered an AK47 rifle and two pistols.
A truck carrying a consignment of cigarettes arrived at the entrance to Riverside Park in Umzinto to make a delivery at a store when the driver was held up by men armed with AK47 rifles and handguns.
They then loaded the consignment of cigarettes into a black SUV and two sedans before fleeing.
Police spokesman, Captain Vincent Pandarum, said an Umzinto patrol vehicle crew spotted one of the vehicles on the R612 Ixopo Main Road and called for back-up while giving chase.
The suspects drove into a farm in Equeefa near Braemar and, abandoning the vehicle, fled into a sugarcane field.
Capt Pandarum added that with the help of a local farmer who was spraying his crop with a helicopter, one of the suspects was located and arrested by Warrant Officer Brendon Rensburg and Constable Skhumbuzo Maphumulo of the Umzinto K9 Unit.
A vehicle containing some of the stolen property was recovered.
Meanwhile, the SAPS Airwing, Port Shepstone Highway Patrol, Port Shepstone and Umzinto K9 Units, Port Shepstone Tactical Response Team (TRT), Port Shepstone Public Order Policing Unit (POPU), KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Task Team and members of the local police stations all joined in the search.
Police received information that the other two vehicles had taken the old Durban Road towards Mtwalume and set off in pursuit.
Capt Pandarum said the operation was coordinated by the Provincial Task Team which specialises in hijacking and armed robbery cases. The men were tracked down and cornered.
They shot at police, who returned fire. The men ditched the vehicles and fled on foot into the dense bush.
“Nobody was hurt in the shootout but with the help of the patrol dogs from the K9 units, five more men were arrested. The two vehicles, containing the remainder of the stolen property,were recovered,” added Capt Pandarum.
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