According to the provincial police, the 72-hours joint lockdown by the police and Hawks in the Free State, resulted in the arrest of five suspects in Bloemfontein and Dealesville respectively.

OFM News previously reported the Van den Bergs, both in their 60s, were killed at Bloubos Farm in the Boshof district on Friday. The suspects will appear in the Boshof Districts Court on Thursday 18 July on the charges of murder, possession of unlicensed firearms, aggravated robbery, theft of a motor vehicle and theft.

The lockdown was Initiated by the Provincial Commissioner, Lieutenant General Moeketsi Sempe, following the gruesome murder of the couple where, at about 17:30, Van den Berg left the farm to take a worker into town, leaving his wife at home. On the way back to the farm, he stopped to open his farm gate when he was allegedly overpowered by six suspects. He was then taken back to his house where he and his wife were tied up, brutally beaten and shot. Both died at the scene.

The suspects ransacked the house and stole several items, including four firearms. Van den Berg’s vehicle was later recovered embedded in the mud in the Caledon River bed en route to Lesotho.

During the arrest, two firearms were recovered which will be taken for forensic tests to determine their ownership and check if they haven’t been used in the commission of other crimes.

OFM News