Thorough investigation into a murder case led members of our Special Operations Team and police officials on a five hour long manhunt in a Sea Cow Lake informal settlement in the early hours of this morning, where five suspects were arrested.
On Friday evening at approximately 20h20 the Marshall Security Emergency Dispatch Centre received alerts via community crime groups of a deceased male lying on Gumtree Road in the Sea Cow Lake area, who appeared to have sustained gunshot wounds.
Multiple Armed Response Officers and members of our Special Ops Team arrived on scene within minutes, where a 32 year-old foreign national was found with two gunshot wounds to the head and showed no signs of life. Paramedics arrived on scene a short while later and declared the victim deceased. Our members cordoned off the crime scene and notified the Greenwood Park SAPS, who arrived on scene a short while later.
Circumstances leading to the shooting was unknown at that stage.
Working around the clock, further investigations into the murder put members of our Special Ops Team and the Greenwood Park SAPS Trio Crimes Unit onto the suspects’ trail, which led them to a Sea Cow Lake informal settlement early this morning. A thorough, five hour operation finally resulted in the arrest of five suspects believed to be involved in the murder.
Upon questioning, the suspects, all aged between 18 and 19, confessed to the murder of the foreign national on Gumtree Road where they had shot and robbed him of R350. The suspects also confessed to numerous other robberies across the Sea Cow Lake area.
An unlicensed firearm and 69 rounds of ammunition was recovered, as well as a vehicle that was taken during a hijacking in Cato Manor on Saturday evening where a female motorist was also shot and killed.
Four of the suspects, three men and a woman, will be individually charged for their respective offences, ranging from murder, being in possession of an unlicensed firearm, the unlawful possession of ammunition, as well as being in possession of suspected stolen items. The fifth suspect was released as further investigation revealed that he had not been involved in the incident.
One of the suspects is a matric pupil at a local school in the Sea Cow Lake area.
During the operation in the settlement, members spotted an abandoned Tata bakkie. It was established that the vehicle had been stolen from Effingham Road in Effingham last week Monday. The vehicle was also successfully recovered and taken to the Greenwood Park SAPS for further investigation and processing.
Well done to all members involved for their relentless fight against crime to ensure these criminals were found and put behind bars.
