Suspected Batswana armed robbers arrested in Namibia
Pini Bothoko | Friday November 17, 2017 18:00
It has been a tumultuous period, especially in the city of Gaborone following arrests of several armed robbery suspects, who keep the police on high alert. These armed robbers have been targeting big supermarkets, where they walk away with huge amounts of cash.
With the police now in a mean mood, as evidenced by recent speedy arrests and with no-where to run for the robbers, it appears some have preferred to cross the borders in search of greener pastures. On Tuesday, the Namibian police released a statement, together with pictures and clips, on their Facebook page disclosing to have arrested a multinational gang of armed robbers amongst them suspected to be Batswana.
The statement reads, “The lightning quick actions of the members of the Namibian Police’s Serious Crime Division has led to the arrest of the multinational gang of armed robbers less than 12 hours after a daring robbery at the Westlane shopping centre in Windhoek in broad daylight that shocked the nation. All of the gang robbers are not from Namibia.
“The swift actions of the Namibian police even caught the attention of the President of Namibia, Dr. Hage Geingob, who called the Inspector General of the Police, Lieutenant Sebastian Ndeitunga, with a congratulatory message for all involved. The Deputy Commissioner, Edwin Kanguatjivi of the public relations division confirmed the arrest of the three-armed robbers and three more people who are suspected of aiding and abetting the gunmen”.
It further stated that one member of the gang was shot at by a cash-in-transit guard while undertaking the violent crime. It revealed that most of the gang members were from outside the borders of Namibia; three are suspected to be from South Africa, one from Zimbabwe and the other two nationalities are still to be determined.
“The Deputy Commissioner Kanguatjivi said that during the arrest officers also confiscated two vehicles. One is registered in Botswana while the other is registered in Gauteng in South Africa. Detectives also found large amounts of cash in the possession of the gang.
They managed to recover more than N$334,000 and U$4,500 from the gang. One woman and five men were arrested during Monday night with information and cooperation received from the Windhoek community,” reads the statement.
It further revealed that Ndeitunga conveyed the congratulations from President Geingob to all involved in solving the crime.
It also said that the general congratulated the people under his command with the swiftness with which they arrested the multinational gang of thugs. It was revealed that the suspects were driving a silver Toyota Etios in which they fled from the scene of the daring robbery.
Asked about the reports, the Botswana Police Service public relations officer, Dipheko Motube said they have not yet received any reports from their Namibian counterparts.
“Trans-organised crime does exist. Even here we have been arresting locals and foreigners who had connived to commit crime. On our recent drugs raids, we have been arresting locals who had connived with foreigners to commit crime, so I cannot rule out the reports that some Batswana were arrested in Namibia,” Motube said.
He said that the locals usually connive with South Africans and Zimbabweans in most crime incidents.
“Usually after arrests it may take a while for police in foreign countries to contact or notify us about the arrests. If they have arrested some Batswana, the Namibian police will notify us,” Motube said.