Durban — One suspect was arrested with a firearm after Durban Metro Police intervened in the hijacking of a pharmaceuticals vehicle.
The suspect has not been named.
Metro Police spokesperson Senior Superintendent Geraldine Stevens confirmed the incident.
Stevens said that the Durban Metro Police Service’s Special Projects Unit, eThekwini infrastructure investigators, Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (Prasa) and the South African Police Service were conducting a scrapyards operation in Clermont, west of Durban, when encountered a hijacking.
“Three suspects hijacked a pharmacy vehicle,” Stevens said.
“One suspect with a firearm was apprehended and the vehicle was recovered.”
Stevens added that officers searched the bush for another suspect.
According to more information received by the Daily News, the firearm had 15 rounds of ammunition and a magazine was also recovered.
The firearm was said to be a Beretta 9mm without a serial number.
At the start of March, a July unrest looter was handed a six-year imprisonment sentence by the Durban Regional Court.
Mvelo Majola pleaded guilty to the theft of a motor vehicle during the looting and civil unrest in KwaZulu-Natal last year.
National Prosecuting Authority NPA regional spokesperson Natasha Ramkisson-Kara said Majola stole a Hino truck that was one of nine vehicles stolen from Pharmed Pharmaceuticals in Riverhorse Valley on Nandi Drive.
“In his plea, Majola said he knew of some people that participated in the looting spree, and one of them had given him the vehicle. Majola told the police he wanted to use the vehicle to visit some of his friends and relatives and he planned to abandon the vehicle once he was done with it,” Ramkisson-Kara said.
Majola was arrested a few days later when police stopped him and asked about the branded company vehicle. Since he could not answer their questions, police called the number branded on the truck and the person who answered indicated that the vehicle had been stolen during the looting. The owner was able to identify the truck.
“In aggravation of sentence, Regional Court prosecutor Vishalen Moodley told the court that the looting and theft during the unrest was done opportunistically with no regard for the rule of law or people’s belongings. He asked the court to pass a custodial sentence, as a warning to others who participated in such reckless behaviour,” Ramkisson-Kara said.
Daily News