Durban – Three armed men narrowly escaped capture after being cornered by metro police on Wednesday morning, minutes after they allegedly shot dead a taxi boss in Montclair.
The men abandoned the vehicle when it crashed into a pillar as they tried to swerve into the Dalton Hostel in Umbilo.
According to metro police spokesperson Superintendent Sbonelo Mchunu, one of the men ran into the hostel through the entrance and the other two raced around the perimeter wall and jumped into the hostel premises through gaps in the wall.
They outran police before disappearing into the men’s hostel.
The four metro police officers had spotted the vehicle while on a routine patrol on the M4. “It was veering and driving in the bus lane,” said Mchunu.
The officers followed as the vehicle turned off on to Che Guevara (Moore) Road, where it stopped for a red traffic light.
When the officers got out of their vehicle to approach the men, they sped off.
While police continued to work the Montclair scene, the alleged killers made a daring escape after being tailed by metro police to the Dalton Hostel, where they crashed their car. Picture: Nqobile Mbonambi
He said metro police gave chase as the men veered into Sydney Road then into the narrow Dalton Road.
The driver lost control when he tried to make a sharp turn into the hostel.
The vehicle crashed, releasing the airbags. After the men disappeared into the hostel and the scene was cordoned off for processing by police forensic investigators, it was discovered that the Durban number plates on the vehicle were false.
Inside, on the back seat, a firearm was recovered.
Another was recovered in a bag which also contained what is believed to be muti wrapped inside a piece of blue plastic.
Police spokesperson Colonel Thembeka Mbele said the vehicle had been reported stolen on Friday from the undercover parking of Lighthouse Mall in uMhlanga.
Its owner had ensured all the doors were locked and windows closed before leaving it parked to go to a meeting.
However, when she came back about an hour later, the vehicle was gone.
Mbele said that on Wednesday morning just before 10am, the vehicle was allegedly used to ambush a 38-year- old taxi owner on Montclair Road.
The three suspects opened fire on his van, which crashed into the gate of a residence where it came to a stop.
The taxi owner’s bullet-riddled body was found inside the vehicle slumped over the steering wheel.
Bullet cartridges were strewn on the street.
Mbele said the firearms found in the vehicle, and believed to have been used in the taxi boss’s murder, were a 9mm pistol and an R5 assault rifle.
The van had Port Shepstone number plates, however it could not be confirmed if the taxi owner was from the South Coast town.
Montclair police are investigating a case of murder.