LIMPOPO. – Two suspected armed robbers are dead after the vehicle in which they were travelling overturned on the R573 in the Marble Hall police area on Tuesday morning. The two men are provisionally linked to a violent robbery at a petrol station in Dennilton a few hours earlier.
Col. Malesela Ledwaba, police spokesperson, says about thirteen armed men stormed a petrol station at the Moteti complex in Dennilton at around 02:30. The group was allegedly armed with handguns and rifles and held security guards and a cashier before moving to the cash office. There they allegedly used an explosive device to blow open the safe. An unknown amount of cash was stolen, after which the suspects fired several shots and fled on foot. Various pistol and rifle cartridges were found at the scene.
At around 05:10 police received information that a white Nissan Navara with a Mpumalanga registration number had overturned on the R573 between Slaagboom and Siyabuswa, in the direction of Marble Hall. Two men were found at the vehicle. The driver was declared dead at the scene, while the passenger had suffered serious head injuries. He was taken to a local hospital, where he later succumbed to his injuries. Police found an R5 rifle, two R5 magazines, 56 x R5 cartridges, two nine millimetre pistols, an empty nine millimetre magazine and one nine millimetre cartridge at the accident scene. The two deceased, aged 34 and 35 respectively, have been positively linked to the petrol station robbery. Cases of possession of unlicensed firearms and ammunition, as well as culpable homicide, have been registered at Marble Hall police station.
Lt.Gen. Jan Scheepers, provincial commissioner, has described the connection of the two deceased to the robbery as an important breakthrough. The investigation continues to identify and apprehend the remaining suspects.
This article is an automatic English translation of a Nuusflits article originally published in Afrikaans. Read the Afrikaans original.
