Police in South Africa say they have arrested 11 people, including many suspected of being undocumented miners, in connection with Sunday’s shooting at a tavern that killed 10 people.
Nine citizens of Lesotho and one Mozambican were among those arrested on Wednesday after police and security stormed two houses outside Johannesburg.
Ten others were wounded in Sunday’s shooting in which about a dozen gunmen in a minibus and a car targeted a tavern in the township of Bekkersdal. There have been several mass shootings at bars – sometimes called shebeens or taverns in South Africa – in recent years.
Police said the suspects arrested were found with unlicensed firearms, including four handguns and an AK-47 rifle.
Fred Kekana, acting provincial commissioner of Gauteng, told reporters that police had found cartridges and live ammunition of the “same type” of firearms at the shooting scene in Bekkersdal. They were sent for testing to determine if they were used in the shooting.
Authorities also arrested a South African mine employee who faces charges related to harbouring undocumented tenants and obstructing justice.
On Tuesday, the pub’s owner, Nonesi Matwa, was charged with fraud and operating an illegal liquor outlet, according to local media.
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