Five suspects, aged between 24 and 64, have been arrested following two unrelated armed robberies at post offices in the Free State.
The robberies took place at Selosesha, just outside Thaba Nchu, and in Elrich Park, Bloemfontein.
On Wednesday, two male suspects entered the local post office in Selosesha, pointed a gun at the security guard inside the building and seized his pistol.
A second security guard, who was posted outside the building, got suspicious and when he entered the premises, he was overpowered and bundled into a manager’s office after he was also threatened to open the counter door.
The two suspects took a substantial amount of pension money and fled the scene in a car with no registration numbers. The local police were alerted about the robbery and managed to locate the getaway vehicle in Thaba Nchu.
Further investigations led the police to a house, where the two suspects were apprehended.
The police seized money believed to have been stolen from the post office, two pistols with live ammunition, a bulletproof vest and the vehicle.
Meanwhile, in an unrelated incident, a suspect was arrested following a robbery of another post office in Elrich Park yesterday morning.
Five armed suspects entered the post office and held the employees at gunpoint.
The suspects then robbed the post office of a substantial amount of cash and fled the scene in a black sedan.
The suspects’ vehicle was found abandoned in Batho location. The vehicle, which was allegedly hijacked over the weekend in Bloemspruit, has been seized, together with two unlicensed firearms.
The Bloemfontein Serious Organised Crime Investigation team is probing the two matters and the suspects are expected to appear in court soon.