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Three suspected syndicate members in court

Date: 26 April 2018 By: Isabel Venter

One of the three suspects, believed to be part of a massive crime syndicate, has been positively identified as a member of the SANDF (South African National Defence Force).

He appeared with his co-accused in the Dzanani Magistrate Court on Thursday (26th). The man was identified by police as Jacob Marakalala (35), attached to the Pretoria head office in the VIP section. The other two suspects are Lucas Mudau (42) from Hammanskraal and Rendani Edzani (42) from Matanda outside of Thohoyandou.

All three were arrested on Monday, following an attack on a local hardware store at the Dzanani CBD, commonly known as the Biaba Shopping Centre, where the three allegedly robbed employees of their cellphones and fled the scene in a VW Jetta.

The three suspects were arrested at Siloam, near the Sasol Garage, on Monday after a high-speed police chase. Police confirmed that after the arrests, four vehicles, two 9mm pistols, balaclavas, gloves, two dashboard blue lights and cash to the amount of R2 531 were recovered. Following their brief court appearance on Thursday the police confirmed that they recovered an additional four vehicles, believed to be stolen. All the vehicles were reported as hi-jacked.

According to the provincial police spokesperson, Lt-Col Moatshe Ngoepe, it is believed that Edzani sold these stolen vehicles. “We suspect that he might have sold more than 40 stolen cars in the Nzhelele and Musina area,” said Ngoepe on Thursday.

He made an appeal to those members of the public who may have bought vehicles from Edzani, to get in touch with their local police station immediately to assist the police in their investigations.

The three suspects were not granted bail, and their case was postponed until 17 May for further police investigations.

 
 
 

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Isabel Venter

Isabel joined the Zoutpansberger and Limpopo Mirror in 2009 as a reporter. She holds a BA Degree in Communication Sciences from the University of South Africa. Her beat is mainly crime and court reporting.

 
 

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