Hawks stalwart slain in shoot-out

JOHANNESBURG: A Hawks officer trying to bring down a drug trafficking ring allegedly involving SAPS officers was killed after a car chase and shoot-out that ran between OR Tambo International Airport and Boksburg.

According to Hawks spokesperson Hangwani Mulaudzi, Warrant Officer Colbern Mashego had received information that he believed would allow him to catch the traffickers in the act.

The tip-off suggested that a vehicle carrying the drugs was set to be escorted by stateissued police vehicles, driven by police officers from the airport to a distant, unknown location. Mashego arrived at the airport at around 6pm on Sunday, identifying the cars he believed would be escorting the drug carriers.

The men and their vehicle immediately fled the scene, but after a lengthy car chase into Boksburg Mashego finally managed to get the men to pull over.

But the Hawks’ theory thus far is that Mashego tried to approach the vehicle and was wounded in a shoot-out between himself and an SAPS officer, who then turned the gun on himself.

By the time the back-up Mashego had summoned arrived, both men were dead, though a “police sergeant” in full uniform began to flee from the bloody scene.

The back-up unit apprehended the man, who was believed to be in the car with the SAPS officer during the shoot-out. The SAPS officer’s vehicle was searched and an undisclosed amount of drugs seized by the Hawks.

Mashego, a member of the narcotics bureau linked to the Hawks, had been investigating the trafficking ring for some time and his death has been described by Mulaudzi as a terrible loss to his community in Vosloorus, where he was a known activist and crime-fighter.

Yesterday, Hawks head Lieutenant-General Berning Ntlemeza visited Mashego’s family to pass on his condolences.

But despite the seemingly cut-and-dried version of events described by the Hawks, Mulaudzi said it would be up to the Independent Police Investigative Directorate to probe any other theories.