Collen Chauke, infamous escapee, is captured

Collen Chauke, South Africa's most wanted fugitive, was captured in Nelspruit. He was arrested at a roadblock in Nelspruit near South Africa's border with Swaziland and Mozambique late on Tuesday evening. Chauke, a former member of the African National Congress' armed wing Umkhonto we Sizwe, was arrested in connection with a R12,6 million robbery from the SBV cash depot in Pretoria in October 1997.

He famously escaped with five others from Pretoria local prison two months later after holding a prison warder hostage with a handgun. The South African police had named him as their most wanted criminal in 1998 and offered a large reward for information leading to his capture. Police further linked Chauke to 17 murders and 30 robberies in which R82-million was stolen.

He died in 2003 in Kalafong hospital, under the watch of security guards. While in prison in 2000, he converted to Islam and decided to change his name to Shiram Iman Dawood.