Farmers, cops work together to catch robbery suspects

Farmers and police in a remote northern KwaZulu-Natal farming area worked together to stop two armed robbery suspects in their tracks on Wednesday.

Police spokesperson Col Thembeka Mbele said three men had allegedly held a farm worker at gunpoint in her room on a farm in the Kingsley area, early on Wednesday morning.

"The victim screamed and her employer came to help. The suspects fled on foot across a nearby river," she said.

"Kingsley police were called to the scene and neighbouring police stations and local farmers were alerted."

Mbele said a manhunt for the trio ensued.

"The two suspects were spotted in the Hattingspruit policing area and were arrested.

"Police recovered balaclavas, a crowbar, an angle grinder and the barrel of a rifle.

"One of the suspects was linked to other house robberies in the Kingsley and Dundee areas.

"The third suspect is still at large,"  she said.

The two men, aged 19 and 23, will appear in the Utrecht Magistrate’s Court on charges of attempted robbery.