N1 shootout as robbers flee police chopper

A high-speed air and ground chase by the police in pursuit of armed robbers fleeing after attacking a truck carrying thousands of cigarettes closed parts of the N1 highway just outside Johannesburg yesterday.

The police opened fire on the robbers from a helicopter.

Dramatic scenes caught on motorists' cellphones show a policeman firing from a helicopter hovering over the northbound lanes as the robbers, armed with an R5 assault rifle, attempted to escape, swerving between cars and trucks.

The robbers had confronted the driver of the cigarette truck when he stopped at a mall in Kempton Park, Ekurhuleni, and forced him to drive to their accomplices, who were waiting nearby.

They loaded a minibus with cigarettes and sped off in the minibus and a VW Golf.

A Flying Squad patrol in Rabie Ridge spotted the Golf and gave chase.

The police blocked off roads and tried to force the gunmen to stop.

Motorist Jan Grobler said: "I could hear the sirens. I saw the car flying towards me. I thought it was going to hit me.

"It just missed me as it came past. There were so many police chasing them. They were skipping robots, swerving between oncoming cars. It was like a movie."

The police helicopter and patrol cars forced the driver of the Golf to a stop on Pretoria Main Road, near the Buccleuch interchange.

Driver and passenger jumped out of the Golf and hijacked a motorist, but crashed the car .

They fled on foot, but one man was cornered on the freeway as a policeman in the helicopter opened fire on him. His alleged accomplice was also arrested. A third robber who had been in the Golf escaped.

The minibus and its four occupants evaded the police.

Donald Veldman said he saw the helicopter hovering above him .

"Cars were screeching to a halt. I saw a man run across the highway. The policeman in the helicopter was shooting around him.

"Another man with a rifle was running. He tried to get into two trucks, before he attacked a lady in a car. Before he could escape the police got him."

Police spokesman Colonel Lungelo Dlamini denied that the police had fired on a robber from the helicopter.