Police were ”worried” on Monday after a fifth man allegedly involved in the burglary of a Benoni police safe was killed, a spokesperson said.
”Of course we are worried and we will look into the matter,” said North Rand police spokesperson Superintendent Eugene Opperman. He declined to give more details of possible steps to protect the remaining four suspects.
One of the three police officers arrested in connection with the theft, 40-year-old Inspector Khomani Robert Mashele, was gunned down in his Kempton Park home early on Monday morning.
He was arrested with five other men after about R14-million in United States dollars and South African rands were stolen from a walk-in safe at the North Rand serious and violent crime unit at the Benoni police station in May. Only about R340 000 was recovered.
Opperman said two men armed with assault rifles and a pistol entered Mashele’s house in Norkem Park at about 6.45am. Mashele, who was out on bail, was shot several times in the upper body before the attackers escaped in a hijacked car. There was no evidence of forced entry.
Another suspect, Tshepo Phillip Mathe (28), was shot dead near his house in Mamelodi, Pretoria, in June.
Mathe was released on a warning, due to a lack of evidence linking him to the crime. A few days after his release, he was shot dead while on his way to buy milk and bread. The prosecuting team believed that his death was an assassination.
In June, the Benoni Magistrate’s Court heard that two witnesses had died mysteriously, while a third disappeared while in protective custody.
A witness only known as Solly died of suffocation when a police officer took him from his home for further investigation, prosecutor Peter-John Smith told the court.
Another witness, known as Mike, was shot in the back when a police officer took him from protective custody for further investigation.
The third witness ran away from protective custody, leaving all his belongings behind.
Smith said the state did not know the police officers who had taken the two witnesses who had died. He said the case was investigated by different police units, including North West police.
Of the original six suspects, 38-year-old Serious Mouchovhi Mthembi, 41-year-old Paul Kgoedi, 38-year-old Richard Sibuyi and 28-year-old Samson Baloyi remain.
Mthembi is also a police officer and was stationed at the Benoni police station at the time of the burglary. Kgoedi, also a police officer, was stationed at the anti-hijacking unit in Isando. Both have been suspended since the break-in.
The other two men, Sibuyi and Baloyi, are both taxi operators. Baloyi is originally from Mozambique, but has South African citizenship.
According to the charge sheet, the safe’s lock was drilled out, but the safety gates that give access to the area where the safe is located were not forced open. The break-in took place during the night of May 24 and the theft was discovered early the next morning.
Police were by Monday still searching for at least seven other suspects. — Sapa