South Africa has seen a sharp rise in heists - from 147 in 2017 to 159 so far this year, according to the South African Banking Risk Information Centre (Sabric).

Criminals have hijacked and bombed armoured vehicles, escaping with large sums of cash, amid growing concern that crime is spiralling out of control in South Africa.

The police minister is under pressure to reduce crime

Speaking at a press conference on Wednesday, Mr Cele conceded that police officers were involved in some of the heists and firearms and bullet-proof vests used by the police and the military had been found at crime scenes, Times Live reports.

“We won’t sit here and deny the bad involvement,” he said.

The alleged second-in-command who had been arrested was among the 20 most wanted suspects, he added.“South Africans are going to be safe. We are going to make them safe. Criminals have declared war and they must get ready to fight the war‚” Mr Cele said.