Police Minister, Bheki Cele says the two policemen that have been gunned down in KwaZulu-Natal were targeted because of their stellar work in fighting criminality in the province.
Early on Tuesday morning, a 25-year-old officer was shot dead in New Germany outside Pinetown, west of Durban.
The officer was found slumped in the driver’s seat of a state owned vehicle with a gunshot wound to the head.
The incident comes three days after 48-year-old warrant officer Theena Pillay was gunned down outside his Phoenix home.
Cele is in the province to monitor the police’s festive season safety campaign.
He says, “It looks like criminals are targeting them (Police). We make a call to the police to say they must not die with their guns, they must be vigilant.”
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Meanwhile, KwaZulu-Natal police have launched a manhunt for the killers of the 25-year-old police officer.
National Police Spokesperson Vish Naidoo says, “The factual circumstances of the incident is not known at this stage, however the member was found slumped inside a state owned Quantum minibus with a gunshot wound to his head.”
”The motive has not yet been established. The members service pistol and his R5 rifle was found intact in the vehicle. The National Police Commissioner has instructed the 72-hour activation plan be mobilised this is a plan, which entails the mobilisation of critical resources,” Naidoo adds.
Pillay will meanwhile be laid to rest on Tuesday after he was shot and killed in what appears to be a hit, outside his home at the weekend.
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