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By Gill Gifford and Anil Singh

ONE of South Africa's 10 most wanted bank robbers has been shot dead in a police ambush.

Zimbabwean, Welcome "Scarface" Mpofu (29), who has been hunted for his role in 28 armed robberies, was shot during a police operation in Durban.

Mpofu, who got his nickname because of a scar on his right cheek, ranked third on Gauteng's most wanted list.

He was sought for robberies in Edenvale in March 2003 and August 2002, a robbery in Silverton in October 2001 and in Sunnyside in September 2002.

Mpofu was scheduled to appear on June 29 along with several co-accused, when he and 11 other prisoners managed to break out of the Germiston Magistrate's Court through a back door.

The escape sparked a massive manhunt, but Mpofu remained a fugitive until his death. He left Gauteng and linked up with other suspects, with whom he continued his criminal activities.

He was known to have been active throughout the country, and had been linked to armed robberies not only in Gauteng, but in Cape Town, Mpumalanga, Limpopo and Durban.

"He was in Durban, and it certainly wasn't for a holiday. He was armed and he wasn't prepared to go back to jail for anything, so he was really dangerous," said Senior Superintendent Boats Botha, head of Fedisa ("Finish it"), the Gauteng unit specialising in investigating bank robberies and cash-in-transit heists.

Mpofu, who had become a member of Durban's notorious Hammer Gang, was shot in the head and face in a flat in Overport. He died with a .357 magnum revolver in his hands.

Another gang member, Bongani Ngubane, from Zimbabwe, who had recently escaped from Westville Prison while waiting trial for armed robbery, jumped to his death. Four others - three of them Zimbabweans - were arrested in the High Point flats in West Road, Overport.

Detectives from Operation Greed - the national unit co-ordinating investigations into bank robberies and heists - stormed the fifth-floor flat early yesterday.

KwaZulu Natal police spokesperson Director Bala Naidoo said the Hammer Gang had been linked to a spate of armed robberies in the Durban area, and last week robbed a bank in Overport City.

Detectives had been tracking the gang for several weeks and received confirmation that the gang were in the flat just before midnight on Monday.

They struck a few hours later. As police entered the flat, Mpofu pulled out his gun. He was shot dead as Ngubane jumped out of the window.

The Hammer Gang got their name because they used long-handled hammers to smash their way through the plate-glass windows of several foreign exchange agencies in Durban.
The Star
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