A case against the five suspects accused of torching nine trucks in Mpumalanga has been postponed to July 27 for bail application.
This after they appeared before the Ermelo magistrate’s court on Monday morning.
The group faces charges of robbery with aggravating circumstances, malicious damage to property, and attempted murder. They were remanded in custody until their next appearance.
In court, it was revealed that out of the five accused, four of them are truck drivers and one is a former truck driver.
It is suspected that they are disgruntled truck drivers who resorted to arson to get to spite their employers. They told the court that the police assaulted them brutally when they were apprehending them.
Vusi Shongwe, MEC for community safety in Mpumalanga, said the provincial government is confident that the suspects are the ones who committed the crime, because they can be identified from the cameras on the N4 and N2 between Piet Retief and Ermelo.
“According to the police and the information they have, these are the correct suspects. We are confident in the work of the police and we trust that they have arrested the right people,” said Shongwe.
Last week, about 21 trucks were set alight in Gauteng, Limpopo, Mpumalanga and KwaZulu-Natal.
National police commissioner General Fannie Masemola said more arrests are expected, noting that the police believe there are other people who were involved in the attacks.
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