THE family of Senior Superintendent Desmond Arumugam, who was fatally shot by an alleged hijacker, have commended police for arresting a suspect.

Bazil Arumugam, his brother, said: “We are thankful to the police and all the units that helped track and arrest my brother's killer. We know they worked around the clock having sleepless nights to find him. The suspect took away an innocent life and we can only hope and pray that they get a lengthy sentence.”

Last Monday, Arumugam, 50, who was employed at the KwaDukuza Municipality’s Traffic Department, was shot while investigating a taxi that had been hijacked on the N2 near Groutville.

During the early hours of Monday morning, police arrested a 27-year-old suspect in Melmoth.

He faces charges of illegal possession of a firearm and ammunition, murder, carjacking and armed robbery.

Colonel Robert Netshiunda, a provincial police spokesperson, said on the day of the incident the suspect boarded a minibus taxi from KwaDukuza to Durban and along the N2 highway, he robbed the driver of an undisclosed amount of money.

“He also robbed four passengers of their cellphones at gunpoint. The traffic officer noticed a minibus taxi that was parked incorrectly near the Road Traffic Inspectorate (RTI) Groutville offices and went to investigate, unaware that there was an armed robbery in progress.”

Netshiunda said the suspect fired shots towards the traffic officer and killed him instantly.

“The driver of the minibus taxi abandoned the vehicle and ran for his life. The gun-toting suspect took over the driver’s seat and drove the vehicle with the passengers to Thembeni area in KwaDukuza where he abandoned it.”

He said police investigations led the investigating team to Thubelihle informal settlement in Melmoth where the suspect was arrested.

“Follow-up investigations directed the police to the suspect’s residence at an informal settlement in KwaMashu where the murder weapon with a filed-off serial number was recovered with 32 rounds of ammunition.”

Netshiunda added the suspect would make two appearances in two separate courts on Wednesday.

He said for the charge of illegal possession of a firearm and ammunition he would appear in the Ntuzuma Magistrate’s Court and he would also appear in the KwaDukuza Magistrate’s Court on charges of murder, carjacking and armed robbery.

THE POST