An operation by the SAPS task force has led to the fatal shooting of four extortion suspects with police in Milnerton, Western Cape. Another four suspects have been injured and were taken to the hospital. The eight were allegedly on their way to commit a mass shooting.

WANTED SUSPECTS

SAPS spokesperson Brigadier Novela Potelwa said the police followed up on intelligence-driven information about alleged wanted extortionists who were driving in a minibus taxi last night in Milnerton. Potelwa said the police came under fire from the occupants of the vehicle; as a result, four suspects were shot dead and four others were seriously wounded, which led to an exchange of fire. "As a result, four suspects were shot dead and four others were seriously wounded. The wounded suspects, all from Cape Town, aged 23, 30, 34 and 38, are under police guard in a medical facility. Four firearms and rounds of ammunition were seized from the vehicle the suspects were travelling in," said Potelwa. The police are continuing with their investigations.

EXTORTION ON THE RISE

Recently, SAPS national spokesperson Athlenda Mathe said 91 cases of extortion, mainly related to the construction industry, were under investigation nationally. According to Mathe, of those cases, nearly half (43) were in the country's gangsterism capital, the Western Cape. On Friday, 23 August, Eastern Cape police commissioner Lieutenant General Nomthetheleli Mene launched a special hotline to enable people to report extortion.