Nine suspected robbers were killed Thursday in Johannesburg in a shootout with police that foiled an attack on a cash convoy, South African authorities said, facing a sharp rise in crime.
Police had located the team in Sebokeng, a township in southern Johannesburg, as the suspects were on their way to attack a cash-in-transit vehicle Thursday morning.
“A shootout ensued,” police spokeswoman Athlenda Mathe said in a statement: “In total, eight suspects were pronounced dead at the scene, while the ninth suspect died in hospital.” Three others were injured. The group was suspected of being behind a series of robberies in the Johannesburg area.
Six guns, “ready-to-explode” devices and four vehicles were seized at the scene, the police spokeswoman said. Cash convoys are regularly targeted by criminals in South Africa, a country plagued by high crime rates. This week, two bystanders were killed and another injured after they came upon a robbery in Benoni, east of Johannesburg.
Murders in South Africa have increased again, according to the latest official crime figures released in February. Between October and December 2022, 7,555 people were murdered, including 3,144 with a firearm, according to police statistics. That is more than 82 murders per day, an increase of more than 10% compared to the same period last year.