2 of SA's most wanted criminals arrested

2011-05-08 22:48

Johannesburg - Two of South Africa's most wanted criminals were arrested in Johannesburg on Sunday, the Hawks said.

Spokesperson McIntosh Polela said Khumbulani Sibanda and a man whose name was unknown but was referred to by some as "Ogies", were arrested after police raided a house in Orange Grove.

A Zimbabwean national was shot dead during the raid.

"We [police] got information that Sibanda was in a house in Orange Grove. When police got the house a man pulled out a gun and started shooting at police and that was when he was shot dead. His passport indicated that he was a Zimbabwean national," Polela said.

Sibanda's clothes, which he was wearing on the CCTV footage police had, were found in the next room.

"He [Sibanda] had managed to sneak out of the house either during the raid or just before," he said.

"A while later he and Ogies were found in another flat on the street and arrested."

Sibanda, 37, and Ogies were named as some of the country's most wanted, "dangerous", criminals by Gauteng police.

Sibanda was wanted in connection with 13 bank robberies and was allegedly an accomplice to another wanted criminal Bongani Mojo. He had escaped from Boksburg prison the same day Mojo did.

Ogies was wanted in connection with bank robberies and it was suspected that he was an accomplice of Mojo and Sibanda.

Last week police asked the public to help track down the four most wanted criminals, Sibanda, Mojo , Ogies and Victor Baloyi.

The men had been linked to scores of bank robberies, cash-in-transit heists and murders.

- SAPA