A dozen thugs are on the run after attempting a drug heist at a police forensic facility in Silverton, Pretoria, last night.
According to reports, the brazen criminals wearing police uniforms allegedly tied up all security on duty and took all their belongings.
One constable was shot and rushed to the nearest hospital.
Police confirmed the incident, saying they have launched a manhunt for at least 12 suspects.
“The 12 suspects are believed to be using a white Ford Ranger bakkie. The motive for the attempt to enter the building is under investigation. One member, a constable, was shot and wounded during the attack. He has been taken to hospital for medical care. Nothing was taken and stolen from the building,” said SAPS national spokesperson Brigadier Athlenda Mathe.
Anti-crime activist Yusuf Abramjee said it might have been 13 suspects, although police said at least 12.
“Suspects went to building block D, bombed a safe with drugs inside, but they didn’t manage to get inside the safe,” said Abramjee.
He confirmed that the suspects left the scene in a white double-cab Ford Ranger with no registration number.
Mathe said police have set aside R25 million this financial year for security upgrades at all its buildings nationwide.
A Twitter user going by the name of Bolt Cutter said if criminals can attack a police facility, what about civilians.
Meanwhile, Mpumalanga police nabbed a 35-year-old Botswana national and confiscated about 8kg of dagga worth R33 600 at the Oshoek border between eSwatini and South Africa over the weekend
The arrest came after Oshoek border policing members were patrolling the border line. The police became suspicious of a man who was carrying a travel bag after reportedly illegally entering the borders of South Africa.
The man was searched and four rolls of dagga wrapped in brown masking tape were found inside the bag.
Mpumalanga provincial spokesperson Brigadier Selvy Mohlala said when police investigated to establish his nationality, they discovered that he was a Botswana national and was travelling from eSwatini into South Africa.
The suspect is expected to appear in the Chief Albert Luthuli Magistrate’s Court today.
The provincial commissioner of the SAPS in Mpumalanga, Lieutenant-General Semakaleng Daphney Manamela, indicated that the police will continue to stamp the authority of the state and will not allow criminality to prevail.
She further called on everyone, including foreign nationals, to distance themselves from criminal activities.
ntombi.nkosi@inl.co.za