A paramedic and his accomplice have been arrested on suspicion of armed robbery at a post office in Mangweni, near Tonga, on the outskirts of Malelane, Mpumalanga.
Witnesses told police that two armed robbers broke into the post office Friday morning and pointed guns at employees.
The armed robbers demanded the keys to the safe, tied up the employees and made off with an undisclosed amount of cash.
They drove off in a VW Golf.
Police acted on a tip-off and were able to arrest the suspect within hours.
Shockingly, when the 26-year-old and 39-year-old suspects were arrested, it turned out that one of them was an emergency worker.
Mpumalanga police spokesperson Colonel Donald Mdluli said a loaded firearm was recovered during the arrest of the suspect.
Colonel Mdluli said: “What is even more shocking is that one of the suspects is believed to be working as an emergency worker.
He admitted: “A robbery occurred at the Mangweni Post Office at around 7.10am this morning. An armed suspect entered the post office and pointed a gun at an employee.”
Colonel Mdluli said preliminary investigations revealed that the seized firearms were stolen during a house robbery in Mayflower near Ermelo, Mpumanga in April 2023.
In addition to the confiscated gun containing about 10 bullets, police recovered cash and a green paramedic uniform stolen during the robbery, he said.
They also recovered a set of keys believed to be from the post office.
Cable ties similar to those used to retrain post office staff were also recovered from the suspects.
“This firearm will definitely undergo ballistic testing to determine whether it has previously been used in a crime elsewhere,” Colonel Mdluli said.
“Police cannot therefore exclude the possibility of adding further charges against the suspect as the investigation continues.”
The postal worker was traumatized but physically unharmed.
Mpumalanga Police Commissioner Lieutenant General Semakarene Manamela praised the arrest of the suspect.
“We would also like to thank the public for continuing to work with us, including by alerting us to the whereabouts of suspects. By working together like this, we can achieve more.” Manamela said the lieutenant general.
The suspects will appear in the Nkomazi Magistrates Court on Monday (5 February 2024).