Johannesburg - South African Police Service (SAPS) officers based at OR Tambo International Airport (ORTIA) and Johannesburg East policing cluster officers made a significant breakthrough with the arrest on Friday night of six suspects linked to what has been dubbed the "airport following" robberies committed in and around the Johannesburg area, Gauteng police said.
"The team, acting on information, monitored a security vehicle and discovered that this vehicle which is contracted to work at OR Tambo International Airport was following a sedan from ORTIA travelling towards Sandton," Brigadier Vishnu Naidoo said on Saturday.
The security vehicle was stopped and it was discovered that one of the occupants was a security company manager wanted for possession of an unlicensed firearm and an armed robbery case in Limpopo. The manager and a second occupant in the vehicle were immediately arrested, he said.
"The team worked throughout the night and during the early hours of this morning [Saturday] arrested a further four suspects in the Hillbrow area. All six suspects are between 23 and 38 years of age. A seventh suspect managed to escape and he is still at large but being sought by the police."
Several incriminating items, including the security vehicle, a sedan, passports, at least 15 cellphones, and several luggage bags had been recovered in Hillbrow. The team also recovered two pistols which would be sent for ballistic testing to establish which crimes, if any, they may have been used in.
"The team is also investigating the possibility that these may have been the same suspects that are responsible for the robbery of seven foreign visitors at Corlett Drive this past Thursday night," Naidoo said.
Deputy national police commissioner responsible for policing Lt-Gen Fanie Masemola complimented both the SAPS teams from OR Tambo International Airport and the Johannesburg East cluster for a job well done.
"The sterling work by these teams has brought us a step closer to cracking these incidents of 'airport following' robberies and they must be commended," he said.
"However, our job does not end here. We will still have a lot to do to solve the many robberies that were committed and to prevent new ones from taking place and we won't rest until we reach a positive outcome," Masemola said.