Pretoria – The gang of robbers comprising South Africans, a Botswana national and Zimbabweans who exchanged extensive gunfire with police officers in Rosettenville, Gauteng, appeared to be well trained and proficient in the use of firearms, the Independent Police Investigative Directorate (Ipid) said on Tuesday.
“Our investigators have just left the scene now, they are exhausted. They picked up about a hundred bullets from the scene. They were still picking some this morning,” Ipid spokesperson Grace Langa said in an interview with broadcaster eNCA.
“It really looks very bad. Some of the deceased robbers were found in people’s yards. Imagine getting to your house and there you found somebody’s body. They were also shooting at police. Some of the bullets are on the roofs of some of the houses in that area. It is a very big scene that will take quite a lot to complete in investigating.”
She said the criminals looked experienced.
“Even the manner in which they were shooting at the police, it looks like people who are well trained. The allegation is that the suspect from Botswana who was arrested is a mastermind. I mean, a person leaves Botswana and comes to commit crime in South Africa and becomes a mastermind of crime. It is saddening,” she said.
“We don’t want to judge. I’m just gonna leave it at that. Ipid is doing its job, only to investigate. The rest, we leave it to the courts.”
She said Ipid has now collected the firearms of the police officers who were involved in taking down the criminals.
“So far we have got about 50 names of police officers who were involved. We are going to collect their statements as well. Some of them were really not in a good state. I was there last night when investigators were interviewing them. Some are really traumatised,” said Langa.
She said the traumatised police officers will be given time.
“It will take some time. We will just have to be patient,” she said.
Earlier, Langa said the Botswana national, one of 10 suspects arrested, is believed to be linked to several cash-in-transit (CIT) heists around the country.
She said the man was dubbed a CIT mastermind and has been arrested after months of evading arrest.
"The suspect from Botswana is a mastermind in cash-in-transits in South Africa. He is a wanted criminal for a long time, and finally, they managed to arrest him," Langa said.
She explained that due to the shoot-out between police and the gang, Ipid is mandated to take over the investigation.
At least eight suspects were killed in the deadly shoot-out with police units in Rosettenville, south of Johannesburg, on Monday.
Langa said the heavily armed gang were allegedly en route to carry out a CIT heist when their plans were thwarted by the law enforcement agencies.
A shoot-out ensued and eight suspects were shot dead at the scene. Two were seriously wounded and five cops were shot.
Langa said police further arrested 10 more suspects: four from KwaZulu-Natal, five from Zimbabwe and one from Botswana. She said it was not clear where the eight deceased men were from as their nationalities have yet to be confirmed.
Police recovered more than 100 bullets at the scene, five stolen vehicles that were used by the suspects, AK-47s with double magazines and R4s. There were also explosives and petrol.
The injured officers remain in hospital.
IOL