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Five gunmen die in botched Durban cash heist

Picture credit: JEFF WICKS
Picture credit: JEFF WICKS

Five suspected robbers were killed in two separate gun battles with police after a chase that spanned several city suburbs on Monday in Durban.

The shootings and dramatic car chase were the result of a botched cash-in-transit heist.

A gang of armed men attempted to rob a cash-in-transit vehicle outside the Value Centre in Springfield.

A well-placed police source said that members of the Crime Intelligence Unit and the Hawks had acted on a tip-off about the heist.

Along with heavily armed tactical police from the National Intervention Unit‚ they engaged the gang of men at Springfield Park’s Value Centre.

Gunmen and police exchanged fire‚ leaving one man dead and another critically wounded. The fleeing robbers then led police to the scene of a second shootout in Parlock.

Rescue Care spokesperson Garrith Jamieson said paramedics had declared four men‚ understood to be robbers‚ dead at the scene.

He said four other civilians were injured in the crossfire. They appeared to have been sitting at the roadside having lunch when the fleeing gunmen crashed their car nearby – with police in hot on their heels.

A number of Parlock residents gathered at the second scene‚ a cordoned off factory‚ as police investigated.