The South African Police Service (SAPS) in Limpopo has arrested a tenth suspect believed to be part of a notorious syndicate responsible for a wave of ATM bombings that struck the province between 2023 and 2024.
According to Colonel Malesela Ledwaba of the South African Police Service in Limpopo, the arrest was made “during an ongoing intelligence-driven operation conducted by the Provincial Tracking Team aimed at tracing the remaining suspects.”
Ledwaba said the 50-year-old male suspect was apprehended “on the night of Monday, 06 October 2025, at around 21:00, at a hideout in Stinkwater, Hammanskraal, in the Gauteng province.”
The arrest follows a series of violent incidents linked to the syndicate earlier this year. On Friday, March 7, 2025, at approximately 02:00, “a group of armed men allegedly attacked a fuel station in Morudji Village, under the Bolobedu policing precinct, where they held employees at gunpoint before bombing an ATM,” Ledwaba said.
Police confirmed that the assailants did not manage to steal any cash in that incident as “the machines were empty.”
The following day, on Saturday, March 8, 2025, at around 04:00, the same group is believed to have struck again—this time targeting another ATM in the Giyani policing area. An undisclosed amount of cash was stolen during the attack.
“As the suspects fled, they encountered responding police officers, resulting in a shootout,” said Ledwaba. The suspects abandoned one of their getaway vehicles, a silver sedan, and escaped on foot. The vehicle was later confiscated by police for further investigation.
In a major breakthrough, police operational teams intercepted the group the following day. “In the early hours of Sunday, 09 March 2025, acting on gathered intelligence, operational teams tracked the suspects traveling from Giyani to Gauteng,” Ledwaba stated. “The suspects were intercepted on the R81 Highway near Mall of the North in Polokwane, driving two vehicles—a white sedan with four occupants and a maroon sedan with five occupants.”
A search of the vehicles yielded significant evidence. According to police, the teams recovered explosives found in both cars, two unlicensed firearms with 33 live rounds of ammunition, and dye-stained cash suspected to be proceeds from the ATM bombings.
The nine suspects arrested at that time—aged between 28 and 43—include four South African nationals and five undocumented foreign nationals. They are facing multiple charges, including possession of unlicensed firearms and ammunition, possession of illegal explosives, possession of dye-stained cash, and contravention of the Immigration Act for the undocumented foreign nationals.
Police confirmed that the most recently arrested suspect will appear before the Tiyani Magistrate’s Court on Wednesday, October 8, 2025. His alleged accomplices remain in custody as investigations continue.
“Police investigations are ongoing, and more arrests are expected as the operation continues,” Colonel Ledwaba said.
The SAPS has maintained that the operation reflects the success of coordinated intelligence work aimed at dismantling organized criminal networks that have targeted critical infrastructure across Limpopo and neighboring provinces.
