Diners applaud police arrest
03/12/2007 09:39  - (SA)  

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Fanie van Rooyen, Beeld

Johannesburg - Patrons at a restaurant in Eastgate shopping centre apparently gave police a three-minute ovation when they arrested one of the country's most-wanted bank and transit-heist robbers as he was having dinner.

The suspect and two girlfriends were eating at the restaurant on Friday night when members of the police counter-assault team (TAC) pounced, arresting him in full view of the other diners.

Police national spokesperson Dennis Adriao said the man had been sought for the past three years.

The man is allegedly an illegal immigrant from Zimbabwe and one of Gauteng's robbery masterminds.

He is believed to have been involved in several robberies in the City Deep-area in Johannesburg.

Frightened diners

Last year, he apparently helped to carry out robberies at several banks in Brooklyn, Sunnyside and Arcadia in Pretoria.

Senior Superintendent Dawid Noah of City Deep police explained to frightened patrons at the restaurant what was happening.

Adriao said: "The customers all rose and started clapping. It was something special for the police. The applause didn't end until the robber was safely locked up in back of the pick-up van."

The man is suspected of being involved in robberies at several businesses in Johannesburg and Pretoria, and it is believed he might have been involved in the murder of two police officers in Carolina, Mpumalanga.

Adriao said many of the man's accomplices and gang members already were in custody, but he had managed to evade arrest every time.

Then, on Friday night, his luck ran out.

Police of the City Deep precinct had been following up leads on the man's various hangouts for more then a month.

Pinned to the floor

When he went to the restaurant with friends on Friday night, the assistance of the police's protection and security section was called in.

Adriao said several plainclothes police took up positions at the table where the man and his two friends were eating, surrounding him.

"At a given signal, the team pounced and the suspect was pinned to the floor within seconds," said Adriao.

An unlicensed firearm was found on the man and police searched his flat in Hillbrow, shortly after his arrest.

Another unlicensed firearm and hundreds of rounds of ammunition apparently were found in the flat.

- Beeld

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