South African police have uncovered an explosives cache weighing nearly 2.5 metric tons in a Johannesburg house.
Lieutenant Colonel Lungelo Dlamini said police raided the house at 16 Regina Road in South Hills after getting an anonymous tip via an emergency hotline.
The cache consisted of 100 boxes of commercial-grade explosives, each weighing 25kg (55lbs).
Dlamini said the cache was stolen from a container in a shipping container depot in City Deep, and suspects they were going to be used to blow up ATM machines.
South Africa has seen a rash of incidents where criminals blow up the cash machines to get their contents, sometimes in broad daylight.
Some of the explosives.
“We do not know yet who the container belong to and where it was headed,” Dlamini added.
Tensions are high in South Africa as the nation prepares to host its first-ever World Cup Games. Hussein Solomon, head of the International Institute of Islamic Studies in South Africa, said last October that the ANC government is so pre-occupied with “white racists” that they have left themselves open to Islamic terrorism.
Al Queda has issued a threat against the soccer tournament.
A 22-year-old man and an 18-year-old woman were arrested in the Friday morning raid and charges with contravention of South Africa’s Explosives Act.
It is believed they are part of a crime syndicate.
Police are still investigating.
UPDATE: Police are now on the search for a third suspect. The explosives are typically used for excavating mines and are worth R135,00 (US$ 18,000).
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South Africa hosted the Rugby World Cup in 1995, which the Springboks won (like they did in 2007 in France).
The difference being that, at the time, rugby was supported mostly by whites and the infrastructure hadn’t been allowed to crumble away (the ANC had only been in power for a bit more than a year).
It is now 15 years down the line and I promise you the infrastructure and security is something quite different.
I think the kak will hit the fan big time. Many people will feel the wrath of the ANC this world cup.