POLOKWANE – A South African Police Service (SAPS) special intelligence-led joint task team made a major breakthrough when they arrested three suspects in connection with a recent farm attack in which a farmer was seriously wounded and his wife shot dead on a farm near Bela-Bela in mid-September, Limpopo police said on Saturday.

During the arrests, police recovered a 9mm pistol and ammunition, and stolen goods and cash, Lt-Col Moatshe Ngoepe said.

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Police in Bela-Bela launched a manhunt for a group of armed men who attacked the farmer and his wife on the farm TNT (Verloren) outside Bela-Bela at about 8.30am on 13 September.

It was alleged that four unknown armed men, two of them wearing balaclavas and gloves, arrived at the farm and confronted a domestic worker.

They pointed a firearm at her and forced her into the house. Inside the house, they demanded money and during the robbery, the 82-year-old farmer was shot and seriously wounded. His 73-year-old wife was fatally wounded. The farmer was still recuperating in hospital.

The three arrested suspects, aged 22, 31, and 37, would appear in the Bela-Bela Magistrate’s Court on Monday on charges of murder, attempted murder, house robbery, and possession of a firearm and ammunition without a license. The police investigation was continuing, Ngoepe said.

African News Agency