Tipped off on the plan, South African police on Friday thwarted an armored car robbery in Makhado, Limpopo province, about 250 miles northeast of Johannesburg, triggering a 90-minute gun battle that left 18 of the robbers dead, Barrons reports.
Officers surrounded the suspects’ house when a gunfight ensued, killing 16 men and two women affiliated with the gang. One officer was seriously wounded. Authorities believe during the gun battle, an explosive the gang had intended to use on a cash repository exploded–police do not know if it exploded accidentally or was detonated intentionally–which resulted in many of the fatalities. A police raid at another of the gang’s safehouses led to four people being arrested without incident.
Armored car robberies are fairly common in South Africa, with 64 attempted in the first quarter of 2023 alone. In this case, police were investigating, since January, a gang believed to be responsible for a number of them.