Durban — Three suspects that were arrested during a routine police patrol were expected to appear in court on Wednesday (today) for being in possession of an unlicensed firearm.
On Tuesday, the Durban Metro Police Service said its trio unit was patrolling on the M25 when they stopped a suspicious white VW Polo and searched it.
“One firearm with a filed-off serial number was found with five rounds of ammunition. Three suspects aged from 25 to 45 were arrested and detained at the Greenwood Park SAPS station,” metro police said.
Police spokesperson Constable Thenjiswa Ngcobo said Greenwood Park police arrested three suspects, aged 25, 36 and 45 for the possession of an unlicensed firearm.
They were expected to appear in the Durban Magistrate’s Court on Wednesday, April 19, 2023.
“The police were conducting routine patrol duties along N2 southbound on April 17, 2023, when they spotted a suspicious vehicle with three occupants and ordered it to stop. A search was conducted and a 9mm pistol was recovered,” Ngcobo said.
Meanwhile, in an unrelated incident, last week, the Greytown Magistrate’s Court convicted and sentenced Siboniso Zondi, 26, to eight years imprisonment for being in possession of an unlicensed firearm, of which four years were suspended for five years on condition that he is not found guilty of a similar offence during the period of suspension.
Hawks KwaZulu-Natal spokesperson Captain Simphiwe Mhlongo said the conviction and sentencing emanated from November 25, 2021, when the Hawks members from Pietermaritzburg Serious Organised Crime Investigation squad received information about Zondi who was in possession of an unlicensed firearm in the Ngome area near Greytown.
Hawks members went to Zondi’s house and a search was conducted. During the search, members found a 9mm pistol with eight live rounds of ammunition. Zondi was placed under arrest and charged with possession of an unlicensed firearm as well as ammunition, Mhlongo said.
He said that Zondi made his first court appearance and he was granted bail. He then attended court several times until he was sentenced last Wednesday. He was further sentenced to 12 months imprisonment for possession of unlicensed ammunition, but that sentence will run concurrently with the first sentence. Thus, Zondi will serve four years of direct imprisonment.
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