Nelspruit - Three men accused of house robbery were arrested in Nelspruit on Wednesday, Mpumalanga police said.
They were caught in Dwaleni, Gutshwa and Pienaar where they had been hiding, said Brigadier Selvy Mohlala.
Apparently the three men, aged between 25 and 35, robbed a 72-year-old woman of four firearms, a DVD player and an undisclosed amount of money.
They first dragged her inside her house at her plot in Burnside, demanding safe keys, said Mohlala.
“They severely assaulted the old woman and burnt her with a hot iron until she gave them the safe keys.”
They tied and locked her in the bathroom before they sped off with her car which they abandoned at Kabokweni near White River.
The men would appear in the Nelspruit Magistrate's Court on Friday, on charges including unlawful possession of firearms and possession of suspected stolen property, he said.
The Mpumalanga police commissioner Lt-Gen Thulani Ntobela warned other criminals that police would leave no stone unturned to ensure that communities were safe and secure.
Sapa