Two male guards aged 32 and 46 are expected to appear at the Emalahleni Magistrate’s Court today, Wednesday, 31 May 2023 after Police in Witbank arrested them yesterday (30 May 2023) around 13:30.
According to the report, members from Visible Policing in Witbank were patrolling, thereby maintaining high visibility around their policing precinct including in an area called Siyanqoba. These men and women in Blue then spotted a suspicious white Toyota Etios which overtook them in a high speed and members noticed that the car had no number plates both in front and at the back.
The Etios was then approached by the astute members and ordered it to stop thereafter the car as well as the two occupants were searched which resulted in the discovery of two magazines with ammunition for a rifle. Further than that two AK-47 rifles and 4 ZM rifles were found inside the said vehicle. The number of live rounds found is about 136. The two men identified themselves as security guards however that did not deter the members from apprehending them as it is prohibited to be in possession of some of the firearms they had. The pair was then locked up and charged accordingly. The recovered items were seized by the Police for further investigation.
Preliminary investigations by the Police thus far has revealed that the licences for four rifles (except the two AK-47 rifles) had already expired which made Police to believe that the guards were unlawfully in possession of unlicensed firearms with ammunition and they (suspects) were also in possession of prohibited firearms with reference to the AK-47 rifles.
As part of the ongoing probe, the confiscated firearms will undergo ballistic testing to determine whether they were not used previously in the commission of crime. The results thereof may lead to more charges added against the suspects.
Meanwhile the Provincial Commissioner of the SAPS in Mpumalanga, Lieutenant General Semakaleng Daphney Manamela applaud members for the job well done. “We are high motivated by this success and when it comes to fighting crime in the province, we will never back down. We previously had armed robberies carried out across the province and we took a stand to end this. On Friday (26 May 2023) we arrested two suspects with two AK-47 rifles and 266 ammunition on the N12 Road, next to Ogies off ramp. This time two arrests have been made and two rifles are recovered. These achievements should be regarded as a message to the public about our determination. The only thing we need now, is the support from our communities by joining hands with us whilst availing more information about criminal activities. As always, we promise to act decisively” said the General.