Pretoria | Monday
A PRETORIA couple is expected to appear in the local Magistrate’s Court on Monday on charges relating to theft and illegal possession of firearms, Gauteng police said on Sunday.
Inspector Percy Morokane said the police followed up a tip-off and discovered an arms cache at the couple’s house in Laudium, west of Pretoria, during a raid on Friday.
The woman was arrested at the house while her husband handed himself over to the police on Saturday.
”Apparently the husband was not at home when his wife was arrested,” he said.
The woman was released on bail and her husband was kept in custody at the Pretoria central police station.
The two would face charges of illegal possession of firearms and ammunition, theft of a motor vehicle, and possession of stolen property.
The possession of stolen property charge relate to a police uniform –two trousers and two shirts — confiscated at the couple’s house on Friday.
Morokane said the man and his wife were arrested following a tip-off during a weekend-long raid which was carried out as part of Operation Tsipa.
A fake firearm licence, a pump action gun, a crossbow rifle with five arrows, a gas mask with two filters, 205 R1 rounds of ammunition, 71 R5 rounds of ammunition, 880 .22 rifle rounds of ammunition and 36357 Magnum rounds of ammunition were seized at the house, said Morokane.
The police also found 45 6.35 rounds of ammunition, 100 pump action rounds of ammunition, and four sealed boxes containing 100 bullets each.
Two boxes of 9mm rounds of ammunition, 124 9mm rounds of ammunition, a teargas canister, five 9mm magazines, four R1 magazines, an R5 magazine, and an unknown magazine were also confiscated.
A Honda Ballade which was reported stolen at the Pretoria central police station earlier this year was also seized at the couple’s home, Morokane said. – Sapa