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News – South Africa: Cops hunt heist gang

WARNING: This is Version 1 of my old archive, so Photos will NOT work and many links will NOT work. But you can find articles by searching on the Titles. There is a lot of information in this archive. Use the SEARCH BAR at the top right. Prior to December 2012; I was a pro-Christian type of Conservative. I was unaware of the mass of Jewish lies in history, especially the lies regarding WW2 and Hitler. So in here you will find pro-Jewish and pro-Israel material. I was definitely WRONG about the Boeremag and Janusz Walus. They were for real.

Original Post Date: 2008-11-11 Time: 07:00:07  Posted By: Jan

By Kamini Padayachee, Nathi Olifant & Nompumelelo Magwaza

An intensive search kicked off on Tuesday for a brazen gang responsible for the murder of two police officers in an attack on a convoy of security vehicles, including a cash transport van, near Maphumulo in KwaZulu-Natal.

Two other officers were critically wounded in the incident, in which a large sum of cash was believed to have been stolen.

Community safety MEC Bheki Cele said the officers had been sent to escort the security vehicles as the security guards had received information that their cash van could be attacked.

Police Superintendent Muzi Mngomezulu said four officers from the Maphumulo police station who had been detailed to escort the security vehicles to a pension payout hall were ambushed by a gang of 16 men 20km out of Maphumulo on the R74 road.

“Four police officers in a Toyota Quantum were escorting two vehicles to a pension pay point on the R74 outside Stanger when a Mazda bakkie pulled up alongside them. While the driver of the Mazda was trying to crash the car into the police van, other occupants of the vehicle opened fire on the police with AK-47 rifles and 9mm pistols.”

The police vehicle stopped as the driver and his colleagues were injured in the attack. The robbers then took three R5 rifles and two pistols from the injured officers.

Mngomezulu said other gang members in two other vehicles then robbed the cash van further up the road before fleeing in two other bakkies. One bakkie was found burnt and abandoned 2km from the scene of the attack. It was later established that the vehicle had been stolen from Inanda earlier this month.

Guards from the cash vehicle said the robbers had approached from the front. “We were on our way to drop money off at three pension points when we saw three bakkies driving towards us in the oncoming lane,” one guard said.

“Two drove past us and one stopped next to our van. One bakkie stopped our escort vehicle, which was travelling behind us. They robbed the guards of keys to the cash boxes. The men then came to our van and took the cash boxes and our guns.

“We are still in shock. We did not know what was happening with the police because the van is soundproofed and we did not hear the gunshots. But we heard the men talking among themselves about the police, so we knew something had happened.”

A large-scale hunt was on for the gang on Tuesday as KwaZulu-Natal police officials were making plans to combat an expected increase in cash heists as the festive season approached.

Cele said the Maphumulo police should have informed senior police officials about the perceived threat to the cash van.

“It is not the police job to escort cash vans, but the Maphumulo police station sent their officers to escort the vehicle because they picked up information that this van could be attacked.

“But they should have informed the higher levels of police in the province about the threat. We would have sent in the national intervention unit or other similar units to deal with the criminals instead of sending in officers who would not have been prepared for the attack.”

Netcare 911 spokesperson Chris Botha said two police officers were declared dead at the scene and two others were airlifted to hospital in critical condition.

When The Mercury visited the scene on Monday, evidence of the bloody attack was still visible on the gravel road. Bloodied papers and pieces of shattered glass lay strewn across the road.

A senior Maphumulo police officer said the mood among officers at the station was sombre.

“It is sad. The men who were killed were good policemen, full of bravery. It is a big loss to the police station. These officers should not have died in this way.”

    • Source: http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?art_id=vn20081111053656715C862038