• Police are investigating a link between two murders in Putfontein near Benoni after finding a human head in a septic tank. 
• Illegal firearms and ammunition were also found in separate stings in the area, while three men were arrested. 
• The men could possibly be linked to the murder of a man whose badly burnt body was found in May. 

Gauteng police are piecing together a possible link between two murders in Putfontein, Benoni, following the discovery of a human head in a septic tank on a smallholding in the area. Two brothers and a third man have been arrested and 19 firearms have been confiscated at several locations in the area this week. 

According to police spokesperson Brigadier Mathapelo Peters, police opened an inquest docket in May this year after discovering a badly burnt body of an unknown man in Putfontein.

At the same time, a family reported a missing person at the police station and, working closely with the family, officers were able to confirm that the body was that of the missing person, with evidence of a gunshot wound. A murder case was then registered for further investigation.

Subsequent investigations led police to the deceased's landlord and revealed that the landlord could possibly be linked to the murder of a man who was allegedly decapitated, and the head then dumped into a septic tank on another smallholding in Putfontein in June last year.

On Sunday, police went to the landlord's property and found one illegal firearm and multiple rounds of ammunition, for which he was arrested.

On Tuesday, police followed more leads and found five illegal firearms and ammunition at another location in Benoni. A suspect is yet to be arrested.

Human head found in septic tank - brothers arrested

On the same day, police went to another smallholding in Putfontein and searched the property.

"Six more firearms and ammunition were found, one of which was illegal; while a further search led police to a septic tank in which a human head was found," Peters said. 

A murder case was opened and is under investigation, and the two suspects - who are brothers - were arrested for murder and for possession of illegal firearm and ammunition.

The siblings appeared in the Benoni Magistrate's Court on Thursday. They were denied bail and the case was remanded to 13 August.

"Further investigations on Wednesday led police to three other addresses where [they] found more illegal firearms and ammunition, bringing to total 10 recovered illegal firearms of different calibres, including rifles.

"To this end, police are working closely with the prosecuting authorities toward a possible centralisation of the cases as there is reason to believe that all arrested suspects may be implicated in both murders. At the same time, the possibility of the suspects being linked to more crimes cannot be ruled out pending the outcome of the ballistic tests," Peters said.