Six people were arrested and were being questioned over the brutal murder of a Lindley family on Thursday, Free State police said.
“The investigating team managed to take six people into custody, and they are still being questioned,” Colonel Motantsi Makhele said.
A team consisting of members attached to Organised Crime, Crime Intelligence and Visible Policing, started following leads and information from the scene.
“At about 14.30 they managed to track down six possible suspects, one firearm whose ownership couldn't be verified yet, and the bank cards belonging to the 40-year-old deceased were also found.”
Three of the suspects were arrested on the farm, while other three were picked up in the town of Lindley, Makhele said.
Most of these suspects are in their early 20s.
Attie Potgieter, his wife Wilma and their daughter Willemien, 3, were found murdered on their farm on Thursday morning.
It seemed the farmer, in his 40s, was stabbed, while his wife and daughter were shot.
Commercial farming body, Free State Agriculture, condemned the killing.
“We condemn the senseless murder in the strongest possible terms,” said Free State Agriculture chief executive, Henk Vermeulen.
Vermeulen said the criminals showed that they had no respect for “civilisation, people's lives” and law-abiding citizens.
“Criminals assume they have the right to attack citizens and in this case murder them.”
He expressed the organisation's sympathy to the Potgieter family, and urged farmers in the Free State to get involved in the Free State Agriculture and police rural safety plan. - Sapa