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Seven robbers shot dead in South Africa

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JOHANNESBURG | Sat Nov 24, 2012 6:33pm EST

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - An elite South African police unit shot dead seven men when they tried to rob a cash depot in western Johannesburg on Saturday evening, a spokesman for the unit said.

Nine others were injured and under police guard in hospital, a spokesman of the unit known as Hawks told Reuters. Police also confiscated 11 vehicles and four firearms.

"We believe we got the kingpin down. We are convinced that we got all the robbers - dead or arrested," Paul Ramaloko said.

The depot belonged to Protea Coin, a security company which runs a cash-in-transit business.

Crime is a chronic problem for South Africa. It has one of the highest murder rates in the world outside a war zone.

About 40 percent of the adult population is jobless - a percentage expected to rise substantially in the coming years - and this is seen driving crime and widening economic inequality.

(Reporting by Helen Nyambura-Mwaura; Editing by Myra MacDonald)
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Comments (5)
ddot wrote:
Its not ok to steal but when you have a 40% unemployment rate, what the hell do you expect. The leaders of this nation is to blame, work extremely hard to create jobs for the nation. This why high unemployment is always debated in American politics. It stipples economy and should be at the forefront of every country.

Nov 25, 2012 1:06am EST  --  Report as abuse
hawii2000 wrote:
Too bad the law doesn’t do the same in the US, would definitely cut down on theft…

Nov 25, 2012 10:13am EST  --  Report as abuse
tadchem wrote:
In South Africa it is a crime to get killed by the police, so everybody must have been guilty. Just ask the dead miners who were shot at the Marikana platinum mine on August 16th. The managed to arm themselves against the police even after they were killed!

Nov 25, 2012 1:53pm EST  --  Report as abuse
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