A 40 year old highly wanted fugitive was nabbed for nineteen (19) serious and violent crimes including the TRIO crimes and escaping from lawful custody. The suspect was arrested during a sting joint Tactical and Intelligence driven operation which was conducted at Hamagidi village outside Thohoyandou on 3 May 2020.
This operation was activated following information received from members of the community about the suspect who was in possession of a seemingly unlicensed firearm in the area.
The operation comprised of the Crime Intelligence Unit, the Thohoyandou Crime Prevention Unit, the Tactical Response Team (TRT), the Public Order Police Unit and the Thohoyandou Detectives, reacted swiftly on this information until the suspect was cornered, ordered to surrender but did not cooperate. He instead allegedly started shooting at the Police who retaliated and in the process, this suspect was then shot, injured and taken to the hospital for medical treatment.
During the arrest, the following items were recovered:
*One firearm, One magazine with two live ammunition and two knives.
The preliminary Police investigations revealed that the suspect is linked to a series of crime incidents which he allegedly committed in the Thohoyandou and Acornhoek Policing areas. The latter is in Mpumalanga Province. The crimes are ranging from house robberies, burglaries, theft out of motor vehicle, kidnapping, attempted rape, rape, Possession of unlicensed firearm and ammunition to escaping from lawful custody.
Further Police investigations have also found that the suspect escaped from the Police holding cells in the Arconhoek Police Station during December 2016.
The Provincial Commissioner of the South African Police Service in Limpopo Lieutenant General Nneke Ledwaba has applauded these Teams of members for the sterling job in arresting this highly wanted suspect.
The suspect will appear before the Thohoyandou Magistrate Court soon and he will later still appear before the Acornhoek Magistrate on a charge of escaping from lawful custody.
The Police investigations are still continuing
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