Pretoria: 21 July 2016 – This evening at approximately 18:00 members of the South African Police Service National Intervention Unit (NIU) were involved in a skirmish with a group of suspects resulting in one fatality and multiple injuries.
The unit, acting on information on the possible proliferation of guns, pulled over a minibus with a group of male occupants in the Benoni area in the East Rand. This group apparently consisted of illegal miners (aka Zama Zamas) and their so-called “protectors”.
Immediately after stopping the suspect vehicle, a shootout ensued resulting in one NIU member being shot and wounded. The policeman is reported to be in a stable condition.
Six suspects were also shot during the shootout but one died a short while later while five of them were taken to hospital under police guard.
The unit also arrested a further six suspects and recovered five handguns. The recovered firearms will be sent for ballistic testing to establish if they were used to commit other crimes.
