Durban - An armed robber hijacked a car and escaped while his accomplices were engaged in a daring lunchtime shoot-out with police in Durban on Thursday.
Two of the gang members were shot and arrested near Nandi Drive, north of Durban.
The shoot-out happened in a busy industrial area, in full view of workers, some of whom pointed out a gunman who had been hiding from police.
Two guns – an AK-47 rifle and a 9mm pistol – were recovered at the scene in Kubu Avenue. Police are still searching for one of the suspects.
A Durban Flying Squad crew were conducting routine crime prevention duties when their suspicions were raised by a red VW Golf with three occupants in the Effingham area, police spokesman, Major Thulani Zwane, said.
Tyron Powell of Marshall security said metro police and SAPS started to track the Golf that had earlier been hijacked at 1.15pm in the uMhlanga area. Police pursued it through Briardene and Effingham before it crashed.
“Police gave chase. The men in the car began shooting at the police while driving through Hippopark Avenue. Police returned fire,” Zwane said.
The Golf turned into Kubu Avenue at high speed, according to workers in a nearby factory who had heard the shots.
A heavy duty truck exiting a warehouse was making a wide turn into Kubu Avenue when the Golf tried to squeeze past.
It collided with the truck and the occupants of the car got out and shot at the police, who returned fire, Zwane said.
One of the suspects was shot in the back, the other in the leg.
Regan Stander said he was at the entrance to his workplace when he heard four shots. He took cover before more shots went off.
Stander said he saw the men jump out of the car, split up and run into different business premises along the road.
“We pointed police to where they were hiding.”
Two suspects ran into a business park where Lee-Ann Whyte works in one of the offices.
She said one of the suspects hijacked a man in the parking lot and drove off. Another jumped over a fence and fled into bushes, but police arrested him a short while later.
“We heard the gunshots and when I came out we saw two men running into the parking lot and trying to find a place to hide.”
Truck owner Alan McAslan said the driver and his assistant were unhurt in the drama.
“A chunk of the front right tyre thread came off and the wheel arch beading was damaged,” he said.
He said his truck transports hazardous chemicals but, “thankfully”, it was empty.
Zwane said the Golf had been hijacked at The Crescent shopping centre in uMhlanga. Men wearing balaclavas and blue overalls hijacked a 31-year-old woman and her family, he said.
On Thursday, workers at the Mercedes Benz dealership in Hippo Road found gloves, a jacket and a balaclava near a fence where one of the suspects had tried to jump over.
Zwane said the two arrested men, aged 25 and 32, would appear in the Verulam Magistrate’s Court as soon as they were discharged from hospital.
They have been charged with attempted murder, possession of unlicensed firearms as well as ammunition and they would also be linked to the uMhlanga hijacking, he said
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Daily News