MOPANI – The police in the Mopani Area have arrested six men and charged them with armed robbery and the possession of illegal firearms and ammunition. This follows a cash-in-transit heist that took place in the area on Monday afternoon at about 13:00.

According to the spokesperson of the police in the area, Capt Moatshe Ngoepe, a private security company vehicle was delivering cash from Gravelotte to Tzaneen when the incident took place. There were two occupants in the vehicle. According to the police statement, when they reached the Letsitele area, they were attacked by six men who opened fire on them from two cars, an Opel Astra and a Ford Bantam.

The driver of the security company vehicle lost control of it during the shooting and it overturned next to the road. The robbers then stole three boxes containing a huge amount of cash and drove away. The vehicles that were allegedly being used by the suspects were found abandoned about 10 kilometres away from the scene of the incident.

The police had since then embarked on a manhunt. Their efforts paid dividends when they managed to arrest four of the six suspects at the Letsitele farms on Tuesday morning. Two more suspects were arrested in the Maake area outside Tzaneen later that morning.

The police recovered two more vehicles apart from the ones that had been abandoned 10km away from the scene of the incident, during the arrest of the last two suspects. Seven firearms, six pistols and a rifle, were also recovered during the arrest.

The statement indicates that the three boxes containing the cash were all recovered. The suspects’ ages range between 20 and 30. They were still to appear in court at the time of going to press.