Police have released the names of six of the seven suspected armed robbers gunned down by police in a botched cash-in-transit robbery on the Mailaskop Road to Vleifontein on Friday, October 8. The one critically wounded suspect was also identified.

The shootout followed after police acted on a tip-off that a major cash-in-transit robbery was planned for the Soutpansberg area. A gunfight ensued after the suspects, totalling 12 and travelling in three vehicles, opened fire on the police after being ordered to stop. Four of the 12 managed to elude capture, but seven came to a brutal end while one was critically wounded. At the time of going to press, the critically wounded suspect was still barely clinging to life in a Polokwane hospital.

Six of the seven suspects that were shot dead have been identified by family members in the meantime. They all hail from Gauteng. The seventh dead suspect, possibly a Zimbabwean, has yet to be identified.

The six were identified as Thulani Mapeshoane from Mamelodi, Sello Modibedi (34) from Centurion, Daniel Motaung (29) from Sharpeville, Moses Dolo (42) from Soweto, Edward Tau (47) from Soshanguve and Lucas Mthimkhulu, also from Sharpeville. The surviving robber was identified as Thabiso Moeletsi (33) from Katlehong.

Nice guys they were not. Provincial police spokesperson Col. Ronel Otto confirmed that all of these men had been positively linked to several other criminal cases and violent crimes. These included theft, robbery, house breaking and fraud. Mthimkhulu alone was linked to six cases, which included three cases of theft, two of robbery and one case of contravening the Arson and Ammunition Act.

According to information, none of the three vehicles used during the botched robbery was reported stolen. Two are registered to a Gauteng company, while the third, the Volvo in which four of the suspects escaped, is registered to a private person. By Wednesday, the four were still at large.

Col. Otto further confirmed that the police’s Organised Crime Unit has opened four cases of attempted murder, with regard to the four suspects who shot at the police but escaped, and seven inquest dockets with regard to the seven dead suspects. Two police officials were wounded in the exchange of gunfire, but were released from hospital after treatment.