Five of six awaiting-trial murder suspects who escaped from police holding cells in Mpumalanga early this month have been rearrested.

Police said they got a tip-off last Wednesday that the suspects were planning to hijack a car in Ferlie village next to Ermelo.

The suspects reportedly planned to escape to Gauteng in the car.

Police went to the site chosen for the robbery and arrested the suspects.

The suspects appeared in the Amsterdam magistrates' court on Friday and the case was postponed to April 11.

One other suspect is still at large. Eastern Highveld police spokesman Abie Khoabane said the men faced charges of murder and armed robbery. - Masoka Dube