UPDATE | Vehicle debris, reflector jacket linked to dead officers found in Hennops River

Missing cops/pfficers

Pretoria – Vehicle parts believed to be linked to the VW Polo in which three missing police officers were travelling have been recovered by search and rescue teams, the South African Police Service (SAPS) confirmed on Wednesday.

A front and rear bumper were found during the operation, along with a police reflector jacket belonging to one of the deceased officers.

SAPS said all three families have been informed of these latest developments.

Efforts are now focused on verifying whether the recovered parts belong to the missing vehicle. The SAPS Special Task Force (STF) divers, along with teams from the City of Tshwane, EMS, and Search and Rescue South Africa, have also detected a submerged metal object approximately four kilometres from the N1 highway.

“This metal object was felt by divers 4km from the N1. There is no confirmation as yet that this metal object is covered by debris,” police spokesperson Brigadier Athlenda Mathe said.

Constables Keamogetswe Buys, Boipelo Senoge, and Cebekhulu Linda were reported missing last week, prompting a high-level investigation and search effort that spanned Gauteng, the Free State, and Limpopo.

The SAPS on Tuesday confirmed the officers were found deceased, alongside two other bodies — one identified as an administrative clerk from the Lyttleton Police Station.

The grim discovery was made following days of coordinated work by various SAPS units, including drone pilots, the cybercrime unit, HAWKS, counter-intelligence, and the Gauteng Traffic and Bidvest Protea Coin Airwings.

Vehicle parts believed to be from a VW Polo were found along the N1 highway near Grasmere Toll Plaza, guiding investigators to the Hennops River.

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