Sixteen suspects – including a police officer- have been arrested following a shoot-out at Brooke Street Taxi Rank in Durban on Friday night.
A taxi owner was shot and killed and two by-standers were critically wounded. Police Minister Bheki Cele visited the rank on Saturday.
It’s believed a group of heavily armed men stormed into the rank and fired shots before fleeing. Two bystanders were critically-wounded and a 56-year-old taxi owner sustained multiple gunshot wound- but later died in hospital.
Police later spotted the getaway vehicle and a chase ensued.Sixteen suspects were later apprehended. One police officer, other suspects allegedly work for a security company. The motive for the attack is not known
“We have activated CIRA, the people who look after private companies and their guns to find out who is this company, why it happened. One gun which was found is an illegal firearm and the owner was traced back in Limpopo and he is deceased, so why would the company have a deceased person’s weapon? We are looking into that,” said Cele.
Three years ago, three people were killed at the same taxi rank over an alleged route dispute. Cele says government is currently in talks with provinces affected by the taxi violence.
“We have four provinces that are giving us headaches – KwaZulu Natal, Eastern Cape, Western Cape and Gauteng. We are meeting and the last matter we had was in Mthatha because we are want to find a lasting solution and we will because the government is concerned especially when innocent lives are lost.”
The suspects are expected to appear in court on Monday.
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