The suspects targeted the officers as they stopped for lunch at a roadside stall
The shocking moment police were robbed at gunpoint as they stopped at a food stall has been captured on camera.
The South African officers has their guns taken from them and were bundled into their own van during the theft.
In the footage the brazen suspects can be seen calmly walking past the marked police van, and out of sight to where the officers were eating in a northern Johannesburg township.
They then emerge with the policemen, forcing them into the back of the vehicle and locking it.
Gauteng police spokesman Brigadier Neville Malila, told eNCA the incident took place and lunchtime yesterday afternoon, and that three suspects have been arrested.
He said: “They were suddenly surrounded by a group of people who took their firearms and locked them in the back of their van."
Once the suspects had fled, the police officers were helped out of the van by passers-by and immediately gave chase.
The suspects had also highjacked a car, and were stopped when they lost control crashed, said Malila.
Three men, aged between 25 and 30, were arrested and three firearms were recovered. Other accomplices are believed to have escaped.
