KOMATIPOORT – One of eleven car hijacking criminals has died in the hands of the community, mean whilst six are fghting for their lives in hospi- tal and four are behind bars. This ending comes after these crimi- nals terrorized the community, robbing them of their belongings and special- izing in stealing cars.

The last victim was top business man Johan Sibiya whose two cars were stolen last week. Last Friday eight of the criminals were nabbed by the community of Naas and were give a taste of mob jus- tice where one of the suspects died. The police were tipped off that an- other three suspects would be coming from Mozambique. On Sunday po- lice went to arrest the three suspects. While the police were trying to catch the suspects, they fred shots at the police. In response, the police shot the leader of the suspects and he was taken to the hospital where he is now fghting for his life.

The other two sus- pects were arrested. The spokesperson for Tonga Police Station, Sergeant Mzwandile Nyam- bi, confrmed the latest arrests and the shot off that took place between the gang and the police on Steenbok Mountain. “The police got a tip-off that the gangsters had gone to Mozambique to take stolen cars through and that they would return on Sunday night. We went to wait for them near the moun- tain,” said Nyambi. The arrest of the suspects led to re- covery of many stolen cars including the two of Johan Sibiya, a Volvo and an Isuzu. Nyambi said the shootout broke out between the gang and police after they were seen crossing the border into South Africa to fetch the Volvo that had been stolen on Tuesday last week during the robbery at Sibiya’s house. “We recovered the car and more sus- pects are expected to be arrested soon because we have solid information

about their operation and where they take the vehicles to in Mozambique.” Nyambi said the suspects had con- fessed that they were responsible for a string of vehicle thefts and other rob- beries in the broader Nkomazi area. They will appear in the Tonga Mag- istrate’s Court. Nyambi warned the Nkjomazi com- munity to be careful when giving strangers accommodation. “These peo- ple are residing around our home and they got the information direct from our people,” said Nyambi. He also said that the police have information stating the criminals are paying the community to point houses with their targeted cars to rob. “Some members of the community are giving information of people’s lives and where abouts to the criminals. This has been evident in these arrests as many of the suspects are from outside Nkomazi but we know that they were seen for some times walking on our streets,” Nyambi said.