Three Mthatha men killed in hail of bullets

Police in Mthatha have appealed to the public to help with information that could help in tracking the killers of three men in Upper Tabase village near on Saturday.

Eastern Cape provincial police spokesperson Captain Khaya Tonjeni said the three shooting victims were aged between 48 and 53.

A fourth man, aged 63, and who was travelling with the three, was rushed to hospital.

“Apparently the four men were travelling together from Bityi when they were accosted by unknown assailants who were driving two separate vehicles with unidentified licence plates,” Tonjeni said.

“Several gunshots were fired towards the [victims’] car and the three men succumbed to their injuries whilst one sustained injuries on his lower body and was rushed to hospital.”

Tonjeni said several spent cartridges of an R5 and 9mm pistol were found on the scene of the crime. The motive for the attack is unknown.

He said the survivor was not sure how many assailants attacked them.

“They [attackers] were driving a [Volkswagen] Polo and a Toyota Corolla and the victims drove a Toyota Fortuner.”

Mdantsane police had various successes over the weekR500,000 end when they made 35 arrests in three separate incidents.

On Friday, they arrested within hours of the incident six men they believe broke into an East London home and robbed the family at gunpoint.

Six men broke into the Vincent Heights home while the family was having dinner and stole jewellery, a gun and other valuables worth an estimated after locking the family in an upstairs bathroom.

Police spokesperson Captain Mluleki Mbi said the men had been arrested at a lodge in Selborne.

Mbi said the six used a Range Rover that had been hijacked in KwaZulu-Natal. The car was recovered by the police.

“The vehicle was captured on CCTV footage and spotted by operational command centre members. It had false number plates.”

The six are due in the East London magistrate’s court on Monday.

A man was arrested on drug possession charges in Mdantsane on Saturday night. “The suspect was in possession of eight heroin tablets and will appear at the Mdantsane magistrate’s court on Monday,” said Mbi.

Mdantsane police’s drunken driving operation yielded a further 28 arrests over the weekend. The operation was run in Mdantsane, Vulindlela, Inyibiba and Cambridge areas, with 17 arrests on charges of drunken driving made in Cambridge alone, Mbi said.

Captain Mluleki Mbi said the six men had been arrested at a lodge in Selborne