National Police Commissioner Fannie Masemola says they’ve been tracking the group for almost a week before pouncing on them at a house in Makhado on Friday afternoon.
FILE: National Police Commissioner General Fannie Masemola. Picture: @SAPoliceService/Twitter
CAPE TOWN – National Police Commissioner Fannie Masemola says they believe the 18 suspects killed in a shootout with police in Limpopo planned to hit a cash depot in the province.
Masemola says they’ve been tracking the group for almost a week before pouncing on them at a house in Makhado on Friday afternoon.
He explained that as members of the South African Police Service approached the house, the suspects began firing shot at them and subsequently, a 90-minute shootout ensued.
READ: 18 people shot and killed during police shootout in Makhado
Masemola said they believe that the two women and 16 men were possibly involved in a string of cash-in-transit robberies in Limpopo, Mpumalanga and Gauteng.
He added that four more suspects linked to the group were nabbed in Thohoyandou.
“The plan was whatever they have done when they’ve taken cash, they would go to the second house and they would then transport the money through to other provinces, unfortunately they were going to use an ambulance to transport the money.”
