The arrest of three suspected robbers, who were intercepted during a snap roadblock manned by the Beitbridge Task Team and Musina SAPS members at the Baobab Tollgate on Thursday, 15 September, turned into what is considered to be one of the biggest weapon hauls in the Musina area. An arsenal of weapons that included seven pistols with 81 rounds of ammunition and two R5 rifles with 101 rounds of ammunition was found in the suspects' possession.
The arrest was made shortly after the suspects had allegedly committed a cross-pavement robbery at the N1 Business Centre in Musina, where a cash-in-transit security officer, who was collecting cash at businesses in the area, was shot and injured.
According to Limpopo police spokesperson Col Malesela Ledwaba, the suspects gained nothing from the robbery as the money bags snatched were all empty. Ledwaba said that the robbers had pointed a gun at one of the security guards and ordered him to lie down, while the driver was shot and injured. "The suspects took two empty money bags and fled the scene in a white Ford Ranger, which they set alight and abandoned at Blikkiesdorp. They then got into two high-performance getaway cars - a Mercedes Benz and an Audi - and sped southwards along the N1 road, after which they were arrested at the tollgate," he said.
Along with the weapons, two high-performance motor vehicles, suspected to be stolen, were also recovered.
The suspects, aged between 45 and 54, appeared in the Musina Magistrate's Court on charges of armed robbery, possession of illegal firearms and ammunition and the possession of suspected stolen motor vehicles on Monday. Their case was postponed until 27 September and they will remain in custody until then.
The firearms recovered will be subjected to ballistic investigations to determine if they were previously used in the commission of other serious crimes. Police investigations to determine this have already commenced.
The arrest of these robbers came as good news to the crime-weary residents of Musina. Mr Jairos Kamanga of the Musina Crime Prevention group, who works with the police in fighting crime in the area, hailed the arrest. "This is a step towards the eradication of crime in the area. When we started out, crime was at an all-time high, and we are very concerned about the easy availability of firearms in the area. We thank the border police and other police components for successfully thwarting these robbers. This goes to show that, working together, we can rid our community of crime," he said.