Taxi driver hailed as hero after nabbing suspected armed robbers

Three suspected armed robbers appeared in the Strand Magistrates’ Court today (Friday 21 April) in connection with an armed robbery that was thwarted by a courageous taxi driver who managed to apprehend two of the three suspects involved, when some of the victims reached out for help as he passed by the crime scene.

Preliminary investigation suggests that the victims, off-duty security guards, were travelling homewards when the driver was accosted and robbed of his telephone and wallet at gunpoint when he stopped at the corner of Hlathi Drive and Solomon Street in Asanda Village, Lwandle, around 20:00 on Wednesday 19 April.

It is further alleged that the two accomplices accosted the rest of the passengers and robbed them of their personal belongings. The three suspects left on foot. Meanwhile, some of the victims managed to flee the robbery and sought help from an approaching minibus taxi driver. It is reported that the taxi driver chased down two of the suspects and apprehended them before handing them over to police who placed them in custody.

Whist police were processing the two, the third accomplice, coincidently or not, a colleague of those who were robbed, surrendered to authorities in acknowledgement of his involvement in the commission of the crime.

The three suspects, aged between 26 and 33 years, appeared in the Strand Magistrates’ Court on charges related to armed robbery. They were remanded in custody and the case was postponed to Friday 28 April.