Four cash-in-transit robbery suspects were killed in a shoot-out with police in Sydenham, Durban on Wednesday.
According to police, the suspects were linked to multiple crimes including murder and cash-in-transit robberies.
A fifth suspect was wounded by police and taken into custody at the scene of the shoot-out.
KZN police spokesperson Colonel Robert Netshiunda said the group were en route to execute a targeted hit on a man and his two bodyguards when they were intercepted by police.
A multidisciplinary team that consisted of police officers from the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (DPCI) Provincial Tracking Team, DPCI Anti-Gang Unit, KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Tactical Response Team, the Pietermaritzburg K9 Unit as well as private security personnel used intelligence that had been supplied about the whereabouts of the suspects.
Netshiunda said: “Police intercepted the suspects on Moses Kotane Road and instructed the suspects to stop their vehicle. The driver defied police instructions and the occupants of the vehicle opened fire towards the police as the (suspects) sped off.
“A shoot-out ensued and the suspects’ vehicle crashed against the wall at the corner of Moses Kotane and Barns Roads.
“Four suspects sustained fatal gunshot wounds inside the vehicle. The fifth suspect got out of the moving vehicle and was shot and wounded. He was found in possession of a firearm and was arrested.
“The number of firearms found inside the vehicle will be confirmed once the search is completed, although police can confirm that one of the firearms found in the vehicle is a police issued pistol.”
Netshiunda said the suspects were also wanted for the murders of people, mostly involved in the construction industry.
Police said that earlier in the week a man they described as one of the province’s “most wanted” was killed after he was involved in a shoot-out with police.
Brigadier Jay Naicker said: “In the early hours of Sunday, police officers from the Inanda Task Team proceeded to the Lusaka area at Inanda where a wanted man was hiding out.
“He was being sought for three counts of murder and one of attempted murder.
“As police officers breached the premises they were confronted by the suspect, who was armed. The 26-year-old was killed in the shoot-out. None of the police officers was injured.”
Naicker said an unlicensed 9mm pistol was found in the suspect’s possession.
At least 30 suspects have been killed by police during shoot-outs involving multiple suspects since June last year.
Sixteen have been killed in separate incidents in Mariannhill, four in Cato Manor, four in Camperdown, two in Phoenix and four in Harding.
Crime experts said the shoot-outs in KwaZulu-Natal underscored the ongoing battle between law enforcement and criminal elements, highlighting the challenges police faced maintaining order and safety in the region.
The Mercury