Five robbers were arrested — four of them with gunshot wounds — after a shoot-out with the police following a robbery at the Checkers supermarket in Bryanston, north of Johannesburg, on Sunday.
Johannesburg police spokesperson Captain Julia Claassen said the five-man gang robbed staff and customers of an undisclosed amount of money and cellphones at 4.45pm.
A member of the public alerted the police, who responded ”swiftly”.
”Upon arrival at the scene, police were shot at by the men and they returned fire,” she said.
Police arrested all five of the men and seized four firearms with the serial numbers removed.
However, they were still looking for possible accomplices as they were unable to find the cash and the cellphones, said Claassen.
She said the wounded robbers were under police guard in a local hospital.
In a separate incident in Mulbarton at 6.40pm on Sunday, robbers armed with AK-47 assault rifles and 9mm pistols held up Pick ‘n Pay staff and customers and took money and handbags, she said.
The robbers hijacked a Ford Bantam bakkie and a Toyota Tazz, in which they made their getaway.
Dog unit police on the lookout for the vehicles spotted them opposite the Southgate Mall, where a shootout ensued, said Claassen.
She said a robber was shot dead. Another, aged 26, was arrested. ”He tried to run away, but police were too quick for him.”
A police officer was slightly injured in the upper leg.
Claassen said police seized two AK-47s and a 9mm pistol and recovered both hijacked vehicles, finding the stolen handbags in the Tazz.
She said police were still searching for the rest of the robbers, some of whom were thought to have been in a green BMW which made a U-turn and fled the scene of the shooting. – Sapa