Gaborone – Botswana police shot and killed nine men, Botswana and South Africans, during a shoot-out with police on Wednesday morning after they allegedly robbed a cash-in-transit vehicle.
Police assistant commissioner Dipheko Motube said nine men ranging in age from 20 to 35 died during the exchange of fire with officers from the Botswana Police Service at Phase 2 location in Gaborone on Wednesday morning.
Motube said the shoot-out came after 11 armed men robbed a Security Systems cash-in-transit vehicle of over P986 000 (about R1.3 million) at the Main Mall.
“The robbers fled the scene and were later on followed and confronted by the police and an exchange of fire ensued, resulting in fatal injuries to some of the robbers. The police have arrested a 30-year-old Motswana woman who was in the company of the robbers.”
“Four pistols and an AK47 assault rifle were found in their possession and an undisclosed amount of cash was recovered from the robbers,” Motube said.
Media reports coming from Botswana suggest that, according to police, a 10th suspect was also killed.
In another incident this week, 10 suspects – part of a group of at least 25 suspects who were allegedly on their way to commit a cash-in-transit robbery – were arrested. They were intercepted by a multidisciplinary team led by the National CIT Task Team in Moffatview, in the south of Johannesburg.
The task team cornered the group of heavily armed suspects. Eight suspects were shot and killed and 10 were arrested, two of whom are under police guard in hospital. The team also seized 10 high-performance vehicles at an identified address as well as six AK47s, three rifles and explosives.
Three members of the SAPS – an Airborne Law Enforcement Officer and two members from the Moffatview police station – were shot and wounded during the attack. A Johannesburg Metropolitan Police Department officer was also injured.
According to the Independent Police Investigative Directorate, five of the arrested suspects were Zimbabwean, four were South African and one was from Botswana.
In the space of five weeks, in October and November 2021, Botswana police arrested seven South African men and four Botswana men for cash-in-transit robberies and for being in the possession of firearms and ammunition, in three separate incidents.
In November, the Botswana Police Service arrested two South African men, aged 40 and 47, for being in possession of firearms and ammunition. The men were in possession of an AK47, a pistol and several live rounds of ammunition.
Also in November, three South Africans were among five men arrested for a spate of heists that took place across Botswana. Four of the suspects were linked to the Mahalapye attempted robbery in which gunmen opened fire on a G4S vehicle. Three loaded pistols and spikes were found in their possession. A South African-registered vehicle with false Botswana registration plates, in which they were travelling, was impounded.
In October, two South Africans were among four suspects who were arrested for a robbery in Botswana. Botswana police officers and G4S security personnel had been attacked by robbers at Turn Right Mall in Mogoditshane and an undisclosed amount of money and firearms were stolen. Three vehicles that were suspected to have been used by the robbers, two guns and cash were recovered.
Daily News