A 31-year old Nigerian died in Gauteng, Johannesburg after swallowing substances suspected to be crack cocaine, in a desperate bid to evade Police arrest on Wednesday.
According to South African Police, the Nigerian was seated in a red VW Polo sloon car giving something that looked like drugs to another man who stood outside the vehicle.
When Police officers approached the vehicle, the man outside the car took to his heels while the one in the vehicle drove off in an attempt to escape.
The Police said when he was finally apprehended and searched, drugs were found him, which he said belonged to his brother. He was arrested and put in a Police vehicle.
The Police further said that when they asked him to take them to his brother, on approaching the brother’s place, he swallowed the drugs and later collapsed.
Meanwhile, spokesperson for the Independent Police Investigative Directorate (IPID), Grace Langa told a local newspaper that another incident happened on Monday at Kempton Park in Johannesburg.
A Police Captain heard gunshots and saw people running, around the Engen petrol station. He approached and came across four armed men getting into a BMW 1 Series model vehicle.
He shot at the vehicle three times using his service pistol but it sped off. He returned to the scene of the incident on further inspection and found a man who was later identified as Ajence, said to be a Nigerian, lying lifeless on the floor after being gunned down by the assailants.
Paramedics could not do anything to help him. Two Police officers saw the get away vehicle driving erratically on the R24. They chased after it and a shootout between the vehicle occupants and the police ensued. At the end of the day, one suspect was shot dead while three were arrested.
“The shooting started from Kempton Park on R24 until near Gillooly’s interchange. Three suspects, all Nigerian nationals, were arrested. The fourth suspect also Nigeria national was found dead next to where the white BMW had parked,” said Langa.
