After an attempted armed robbery early this morning at a retailer in Nyanga Junction, a hostage situation developed which resulted in a day-long standoff between the suspects and members of the South African Police Service.
Various specialised police units attended the scene, including SAPS hostage negotiators.
At approximately 17:20 the police’s elite Special Task Force penetrated the premises. Initial reports indicate that 10 hostages have been released and a suspect, wounded by security personnel during the initial attempted armed robbery, has been taken into custody. The Special Task Force and the K9 Unit are still busy sweeping the premises.
The South African Police Service thanks all members of the community for their support and prayers during this nail-biting police operation. We again assure those that we serve, that all precautions were taken to ensure the safe release of the hostages – that was our primary objective and we are thankful to our skilled and dedicated members that this was achieved.
The Acting National Commissioner of the South African Police Service, Lieutenant General Khomotso Phahlane, takes this opportunity to thank the operational members for risking their lives to save 10 hostages in Nyanga in the Western Cape late this afternoon.
Police operations continue, kindly treat this information as an initial update.
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