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Bongani Moyo drops bail bid

Pretoria - The bail application of one of South
Africa's most wanted criminals, Bongani Moyo, was abandoned in the
Pretoria Magistrate's Court on Monday.

His legal representative said an agreement was reached with Moyo that there was no reasonable prospect of success.

When asked by the magistrate if this was true, Moyo nodded and said "yes".

This
follows his escape on crutches from the Pretoria Regional Court earlier
this month. He was not locked in a cell or wearing shackles at the
time.

Robberies, escapes

Moyo is facing charges of more than 35 bank robberies and two escapes from prison.

He
will remain in custody until his next appearance on September 16 when
he is expected to be in court as his three co-accused - Leon Ncube,
Thabani Sibanda and his cousin Khubulani Sibanda - will continue with
their bail applications.

This relates to a robbery at Standard Bank on April 19 in which over R30 000 was stolen.

Moyo, wearing a blue Italian national soccer team jersey, was handcuffed and shackled during his court appearance on Monday.

He
was not on crutches and would occasionally scan through the public
gallery as if trying to find someone, then would bow down his head
again.

Extra security

Security was beefed up inside
and outside court, with the heavily armed police tactical response unit
deployed at a specially allocated courtroom.

Moyo was arrested in Hillbrow, Johannesburg, on Sunday night, police spokesperson Brigadier Neville Malila said.

He was found in a car with two Zimbabwean nationals, who had since been charged with harbouring a wanted criminal.

According
to police, Moyo was sitting between courts 16 and 17 and escaped
through court 16. Two investigating officers and two policemen have
since been suspended from their duties at the court.

In March,
the 29-year-old escaped from Boksburg Prison. He was then arrested near
the Beitbridge border post in Limpopo, after returning from his native
country, Zimbabwe.