Career criminal bites the bullet in shootout with cops
Gunned down in a fatal shootout with police officers, Mahudiri Ofitlhile’s final moments were passed in the same way he spent much of his life: on the wrong side of the law!
With a string of outstanding armed robbery cases against him and a past conviction in Namibia, the 47-year-old habitual criminal was well known to the cops; indeed, he was on their most wanted list.
The Shoshong native’s luck finally ran out in a hail of bullets on a bloody Monday morning in Mochudi.
Along with three other men, Ofitlhile allegedly attacked security guards before blasting an Automated Teller Machine (ATM) in Kgatleng village’s U-Save complex.
Two loaded firearms, a pick-axe, axe were recovered at the scene.
In a brief interview with The Voice, Assistant Police Commissioner, Dipheko Motube, revealed a second suspect was also shot and is currently in hospital in critical condition.
A third man, a Motswana aged 37, was later arrested in Lentsweletau while the fourth suspect remains on the run.
Ofitlhile had pending court cases for armed robberies in Francistown – Choppies Meriting, as well as Choppies Maun and a bureau de change in the tourist town.
All three incidents occurred in August 2020 and were committed at gunpoint.
Then, while out on bail, in October last year, Ofitlhile and two others allegedly raided a U Save supermarket in Serowe, making away with an undisclosed sum of money.
A few days later, the same three suspects are said to have attacked a family in Ofitlhile’s home village of Shoshong, robbing them of P10,000 cash and cellphones.
Shortly after the robbery, the career criminal was stopped at Dibete checkpoint, where he brandished a gun and threatened the officers on duty.
He has been on the run ever since.The alleged spree includes: shop breaking, robbery at Car Land Garage in Mogoditshane, Caltex filling station robbery, Liquorama robbery, Mahalapye Security Services robbery and Trans Cash and Carry robbery.
No stranger to the inside of a prison cell, Ofitlhile spent three years behind bars in Namibia following a 2015 conviction for breaking and entering into, and stealing cash from, Metro Wholesaler in Rundu.
Along with two others, the thieves cut the roof and used unknown explosives to gain access to the safes but only managed to open one of the three safes, which contained N$5,100 (P3,786).