Johannesburg,South Africa

The South African Police Service(SAPS) has announced that the Directorate for Priority Crimes Investigation(Hawks) has arrested a most-wanted fugitive for jewellery store robberies committed around the country.

According to SAPS,a 25-year-old suspect has been arrested and in transit to the Eastern Cape to answer to his alleged involvement in a spate of jewellery store robberies committed around the country.

SAPS said preliminary investigation revealed that the suspect is sought and linked to jewellery store robberies in Boksburg,Klerksdorp,Rustenburg,Kimberley and Port Elizabeth(Gqeberha) committed between March and September 2023 could possibly be hiding in Gauteng,Pretoria or Mpumalanga.

Police added that the suspect was through intelligence information received identified and an observation by the law enforcement multi-disciplinary team which included the Hawks' Tactical Operations Management Section,SAPS MDOC Crime Intelligence in Port Elizabeth,SAPS KZN Serious and Violent Crimes unit and Tracker Connect was launched.

Police concluded that further investigations are underway to trace and apprehend the suspect's accomplices.He will be making his first appearance in a Gqeberha court soon on several counts of armed robbery.

In another incident the fugitive which was wanted by law enforcement agencies handed himself to the police in the beginning of this week.

According to Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation,Zola Martin Mnisi(29),was remanded in custody by the Kabokweni Magistrate Court on Monday,9 October 2023,after he handed himself to the Hawks on allegations of murder and cash in transit robbery cases.

Police confirmed that Mnisi made his first appearance at the Kabokweni Magistrates' court on Monday,9 october 2023,for the murder of a Fidelity Security Officer during a cash in transit robbery at Kabokweni.The case was postponed to Thursday,12 October 2023,at the same court.Mnisi is still to appear in court for the White River and Malelane cases,respectively.

Police investigation has linked Mnisi with different armed robberies happened in Mpumalanga Province.

Mnisi is linked with the armed robbery of a Fidelity cash-in-transit and the murder of a security guard in April 2023.

He also linked two robberies happened between July and August 2023 in White River and Malelane.

His co-accused Mpendulo Absima Hassane(31) is still at large and police are looking for the cash in transit robbery happened in Malelane.