Gauteng Police Commissioner, Lieutenant General Elias Mawela, has directed a task team to probe the murder and crimes of a prime gang suspect, linked to a series of cases in Mamelodi.

This comes after the suspect, Phillip Given Mnguni, 35, was on Monday shot and killed while driving on the N4 Highway near Diamond Hill Toll Plaza. A woman identified as his girlfriend was injured in the shooting.

Gauteng SAPS spokesperson, Brigadier Brenda Muridili, said: “Upon arrival on the scene, the police were told by a witness that a black VW Polo was shot at by occupants of a silver grey Mercedes Benz. The driver of the Polo lost control of the vehicle, which came to a stop not far from the road”.

She said the driver of the Polo was declared dead on the scene, while the passenger was rushed to hospital with gunshot wounds.

“Preliminary investigations on the scene identified the deceased as 35-year-old Phillip Given Mnguni. The task team established to investigate gang activities in Mamelodi had already linked him to several cases linked to the Boko Haram,” she said.

Muridili said Mawela had directed the task team to continue with the profiling of the deceased and to ensure that investigations into all the crimes that he was accused of were completed.

“This particular deceased was the number one wanted suspect in our investigations into the Boko Haram activities that were happening in Mamelodi. There has not, in recent times, been any reports of gang-related murders in Mamelodi since the deployment of the task team as well as visible policing members. This indicates that the measures that we have put in place to stabilize gang-related crime are starting to bear fruits,” said Mawela.

All crime scene investigation team members as well as the investigating team tasked with investigating gang-related murders attended the crime scene to ensure that evidence was collected correctly, Gauteng SAPS said in a statement.

“The police are on the lookout for the silver Mercedes Benz that was allegedly used by the shooters. No one has been arrested yet and the police have registered a case of murder and attempted murder,” they said, appealing to anyone that might have come across the silver Mercedes Benz to call the SAPS Crime Stop Number 08600 10111. Information received will be treated with confidentiality.

Source: South African Government News Agency