The Levubu police believe they have smashed a notorious armed robbery gang after the arrest of six men who are believed to be responsible for many crimes in the area.

According to Levubu police spokesperson Insp Ntshengedzeni Makondelele, the arrests came about after a house robbery was committed at Tshakhuma, Muhovhoya, in the early hours of last Tuesday (September 9). It is alleged that the victim woke up after being called by nature and went to an inside toilet of her house. When she came out of the toilet, she was met by a gun-wielding youth, who demanded money from her.

She immediately retreated back into the toilet and closed the door behind her. She was allegedly ordered out of the toilet and also threatened with death if she did not open the door. She opened the door and was led back to her room, whereupon she found two other men searching her room. The thugs then threatened her with a pistol and ordered her to hand over all her money. She gave them R4 000, two Nokia cell phones and a watch, whereupon they ran away.

The woman contacted the police, who reacted very swiftly and arrived at the scene within minutes, only to find the thugs gone.

After an intensive, around-the-clock investigation, six suspects, one youth and five others between 22 and 37, were arrested. Amongst the six, five are from Itsani and the other one is from Thohoyandou Block M. During the arrest, police managed to confiscate two 9mm pistols and two cell phones. “We cannot rule out the possibility of the suspects’ being linked to other serious cases that happened in the Vhembe area; we are investigating all the possibilities,” added Makondelele.

The suspects appeared at the Vuwani Magistrate’s Courts on Tuesday and were not asked to plead. One suspect, Rudzani Matidze, was granted bail of R1 000, while the other five were not granted bail and will remain in custody, pending their next appearance on the 26^th of September, 2008

Makondelele commended the police for the swift way in which they had solved the case. “It is through community involvement that we are able to win the war against crime and we are very thankful for the support we are getting from the community,” he said.

The other suspects are Mashudu Ndou (30), Ike Madzivhandila (37), Mulalo Masakona (22), Patrick Mudau (25) and one unidentified youth.

In a separate incident, the MW Makhubela police in Giyani have made a major breakthrough in arresting a most wanted murder suspect in Sandton.