Johannesburg - South African Police Service (SAPS) officers in Gauteng have arrested two suspects in connection with the May 2019 callous murders of Johanco Fleischman, 19, and his girlfriend Jessica Kuhn, 24, who were shot dead on the Putfontein off-ramp on the N12 in Benoni in Ekurhuleni.
“Intelligence-driven information led to the arrest of two suspects who are linked to the killing of two people who got stuck after running out of petrol in May 2019. It is alleged that the deceased were waiting for help when they were attacked, robbed, and brutally killed by unknown suspects, and their vehicle was slightly burnt,” Gauteng SAPS spokesman Captain Kay Makhubele said.
The investigation team had been working tirelessly to bring the perpetrators to book., and on June 18, SAPS officers led by the provincial serious and violent organised crime unit "operationalised" the intelligence information in Benoni, where two suspects linked to the killing of the two victims were arrested. No firearms were recovered during the arrests. The suspects would be profiled to check whether they could be linked to other serious and violent crimes, Makhubele said.
Gauteng police had also registered other crime-fighting successes this week.
“In another intelligence-driven operation on Thursday, police followed up information of a wanted suspect, widely known as Muchifefe and also known as Chivas, who was seen driving a red Polo in Soshanguve [north of Pretoria]. The vehicle was observed and spotted driving into a yard of a house in Soshanguve Block M, where the police pounced and arrested the suspect,” he said.
During the arrest, an R4 rifle, 149 bags of crystal methamphetamine, AK47 rifle ammunition, 9mm handgun magazines, a police hand-held radio, and police uniforms were recovered.
“Meanwhile in Midrand [Johannesburg], police arrested a former police reservist following information received that he was using police stamps from his house. During the operation, police uniforms and live ammunition were also seized,” said Makhubele.
All the arrested suspects would soon appear in various magistrates' courts in Gauteng. Provincial SAPS commissioner Lt-Gen Elias Mawela had commended the officers for their “sterling work”, he said.