Johannesburg Central police officers foiled a business robbery and arrested five suspects, aged 20 to 42, for attempted business robbery, attempted murder, and possession of unlicensed firearms and ammunition, Gauteng police said on Sunday.
Police officers were on routine crime prevention duties along Ellof and Kerk streets late on Friday afternoon when they saw five suspicious men entering a Pep Stores shop, Captain Xoli Mbele said. While observing, they saw one suspect with a firearm in his hand pushing a security guard. Police “cornered the suspects”, but one of the suspects fired several shots as he attempted to flee the scene. Five men were apprehended and two unlicensed firearms and ammunition with no serial numbers were recovered.
“We cannot rule out [the] possibility that the suspects may be linked to other cases of business robberies, and [the] firearms will be sent to ballistic testing to ascertain if they were used in the commission of other crimes.” Police investigations were continuing and the suspects would appear in the Johannesburg Magistrate’s Court on Monday, Mbele said.