A National Intelligence Agency employee was among three men arrested on Saturday, after one of his alleged armed robbery accomplices was involved in a shoot out with police.
Pretoria police spokesperson Captain Piletji Sebola said three members of the Soshanguve Crime Prevention Unit were stopped along the Soutpan Road around 4pm by a livestock seller who claimed he had been robbed.
The 28-year-old victim told the policemen he had been robbed a few minutes earlier of R680 and a cellphone by four men travelling in a blue Opel Astra with no registration plates.
Sebola said the policemen took the man with them into Soshanguve where they spotted the vehicle near the hostels.
They pulled the car over. Two of the suspects jumped out of the car and ran away. One of the policemen ran after them.
”One of the two suspects opened fire on the policeman and he returned fire. There was a brief exchange of gunfire. The suspect was shot in the upper thigh.”
The wounded suspect was arrested and a .38 special revolver – with the serial number filed off — was confiscated.
In the meantime the two remaining suspects were arrested and two firearms with no serial numbers, 16 rounds of ammunition, the stolen cash and four cellphones were found in their possession.
Sebola said further investigations revealed that the men had allegedly robbed staff at a small-holding earlier. The small-holding belonged to employer of the livestock seller.
The three men arrested were a 35-year-old NIA employee who was driving the Opel, a 23-year-old man and the 29-year-old man who was wounded. He is under police at a local hospital.
The fourth suspect escaped.
The men were facing charges of attempted murder of a policeman, illegal possession of firearm and ammunition and armed robbery.
Sebola said an attempted murder docket had also been opened against the policeman. ‒ Sapa