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Police task team deployed to deal with rampant crime at OR Tambo

Police say that a task team has been deployed to combat the rampant crime at Johannesburg’s OR Tambo International airport.

Earlier this month police minister Fikile Mbalula told Members of Parliament that they “would collapse” if they were to discover the full extent of crime at the airport.

 Appearing before the police portfolio committee‚ Mbalula painted a disheartening picture of the crime situation at OR Tambo.

Mbalula said that he had tasked the new acting national police commissioner‚ Lesetja Mothiba‚ to tighten security at the country’s busiest airport.

Vuyo Mhaga‚ Mbalula’s spokesperson‚ told TimesLIVE that measures had been put in place to deal with crime at the national key point.

 “A team that comprises of crime intelligence‚ visible policing‚ detectives‚ and forensic experts has been deployed for the airport‚” said Mhaga

According to Mhaga‚ the airport will not be declared a crime hotspot as “the crimes are not necessarily being committed inside the airport”.

 Police in Johannesburg have launched a manhunt for three armed men who shot and robbed two taxi passengers from the Democratic Republic of the Congo outside a hotel in Morningside‚ Sandton‚ on Sunday morning.

The victims‚ who are husband and wife‚ are in a serious but stable condition in a local hospital.

Gauteng police spokesman Captain Mavela Masondo said it was suspected that the robbers had followed the taxi from Johannesburg’s OR Tambo Airport

“The taxi driver was dropping off the two guests at a hotel in West Road in Morningside just after 6am this morning when they were approached by three armed men in a white BMW.

 “The men shot the couple and robbed them of their luggage‚ jewellery‚ cellphones and money. The couple – a husband and wife – were taken to a local hospital where they are in a serious‚ but stable condition‚” Masondo said.

“We suspect that they were followed from OR Tambo but that will form part of our investigation. We have launched a manhunt for the three suspects‚” he added.

OR Tambo airport has had several security breaches in the recent past although it has a highly visible police presence because it is a national key point.

The most prominent security breach at OR Tambo this year was a brazen cash heist in March where millions of rand were stolen‚ allegedly with the help of some police officers.

 

 

 

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