One of the suspects allegedly involved in Tuesday’s brazen and bloody CIT heist on Durban’s N2 highway was killed later that day in Berea during a gunfight with police.
In a media statement released late Tuesday, SAPS confirmed that a second suspect was seriously wounded in the shootout and remains in critical condition. Police also claim the two suspects are linked to at least five murders in the province.
N2 TURNED INTO A SCENE FROM ‘HEAT‘
The stretch of Durban’s N2 between the Higginson Highway and the M7 was turned into a semi-warzone on Tuesday when, during peak morning traffic, a robber gang forced a CIT vehicle off the road.
The transit vehicle flipped, landing on its roof and came to rest on the centre median. Then, like a scene from HEAT, the assailants blew off the doors and robbed the vehicle – all captured on camera by eyewitnesses.
KwaZulu-Natal police spokesperson, Colonel Robert Nethsuinda said, “After they attacked the transit vehicle, the suspects assaulted the security guards and robbed them of their firearms, before stealing an undisclosed amount of money.”
Motorists on the road were forced to reverse and U-turn as shots rang out during the heist.
MULTIPLE BYSTANDERS WOUNDED IN HEIST
A spokesperson from ALS Paramedics, Garrith Jamieson said that several bystanders were shot and treated on the scene. In a statement on their Facebook page, Jamieson reported; “Paramedics treated three security officers for various injuries who were stabilised on the scene before being transported to hospital.
Approximately 500 metres from the scene three occupants on a bus travelling to work had sustained multiple gunshot wounds, they were also stabilised.”
Further down the Higginson highway, paramedics found two more people with gunshot wounds who were stabilised and taken to hospital.
SECURIFIRE AGENTS CHASE SUSPECTS TO CHATSWORTH
According to a report by Mzansi Securifire, as their team approached the heist scene from the Higginson Highway, near the NPC cement factory, they encountered multiple gunshots being fired in the direction of Mobeni.
Police said the suspects escaped the robbery scene in a white Mercedes and headed for Chatsworth. Securifire guards pursued the suspects through the Bayview area towards Silverglen Drive and were met with gunfire which escalated into a shootout.
ONE WOMAN KILLED IN CROSSFIRE
The security company said, “Four suspects were involved. They attempted to hijack a grey/silver Mercedes Benz, and assaulted the driver.” Eyewitnesses reported that they were heavily armed and wearing bulletproof vests.
Colonel Nethsuinda said the suspects also allegedly shot at a minibus taxi, which they attempted to hijack. “In their attempt to hijack the vehicle a woman was shot and killed, and another woman was injured.”
ALS spokesperson Jamieson confirmed this in his report, stating; “On Silverglen Drive in Chatsworth, paramedics found that multiple people had been shot, including two females and a security officer. Unfortunately, one female believed to be in her thirties had sustained fatal gunshot wounds and was declared deceased on the scene.”
BRAVE SECURITY OFFICER KEEPS CHASING WHILE WOUNDED
The wounded security guard, Steffen Govender, a tactical officer from Prosecure, was shot in the hand while pursuing the suspects but continued to chase them through Chatsworth.
Govender caught up with the suspects on Silverglen Drive just after they had hijacked a couple for their vehicle. They had to abandon it when Govender began firing at them. The assailants fired back and Govender was shot twice in the neck but survived. His wife, who did not want to be named, said he is currently in the ICU and stable.
At the scene of the shooting in Chatsworth, paramedics treated several other people who had been shot.
Both sides of the N2 freeway had to be closed after the heist and declared a crime scene until mid-morning.
Footage of the dramatic robbery was shared widely on social media.
TWO SUSPECTS TRACKED AND SHOT BY POLICE
On Tuesday afternoon, two of the four suspects linked to the CIT robbery were cornered by police in Berea. In a shootout with the cops, one of the suspects was killed and his alleged accomplice is in a critical condition.
KZN police spokesperson Nethsuinda said that police members followed up on information regarding the vehicles that were spotted fleeing from the cash-in-transit robbery crime scene.
ONE SUSPECT KILLED, ANOTHER WOUNDED
“The identified vehicle was intercepted at an intersection in Glenwood and the suspects opened fire towards the police”, he explained. “Police retaliated and during the shootout, one suspect was shot and fatally wounded. No police officer was injured during the shootout.”
ALS spokesperson, Jamieson said the paramedics responded to reports of a shooting on Che Guevara Road just after 2 pm. They arrived on the scene to find two men, believed to be robbery suspects, with multiple gunshot wounds.
“One male was confirmed dead and the other was in a critical condition. He was stabilised and taken to hospital”, Jamieson said.
SUSPECTS LINKED TO MULTIPLE MURDER CASES IN KZN
According to Nethsuinda, the two suspects are linked to five murder cases in the province. He said, “They have been positively linked to the triple murder which happened at the Ntambanana policing precinct in January 2025, and another double murder case committed in June 2024 in the same area.”
He also said another vehicle hijacked in the KwaMakhutha area and used in the CIT robbery had been found abandoned in Mariannhill, “with what appeared to be money bags inside.”
A police investigation and manhunt for the remaining suspects is currently ongoing.
WERE YOU ON THE SCENE WHEN THE CIT HEIST OR SHOOTOUT WITH COPS HAPPENED?
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