JOHANNESBURG, South Africa (AFP) – South African police have arrested five suspects in connection with the murder of reggae star Lucky Dube, one of the continent’s biggest-selling artistes, police said Sunday.

Spokesman Superintendent Eugene Opperman told AFP they have also confiscated two unlicensed firearms and four cars, including the one believed to have been used on the night Dube was killed in the Rosettenville suburb south of Johannesburg last Thursday night.

“I can confirm that five suspects were arrested this morning. We confiscated two unlicensed guns, and four cars including the blue VW Polo that is believed to have been used on the night the crime was committed. The cars are believed to have been stolen,” Opperman said.

Dube, 43, was added to the list of high-profile victims of murder in crime-ridden South Africa after he was shot and killed during what is believed to have been a botched car hijack.

He was dropping his teenage son at a relative’s home when unknown gunmen shot him three times at close range in full view of his two children.

The murder was condemned by fellow musicians and South African President Thabo Mbeki who hailed Dube as “an outstanding South African”, saying his killing underlined the need for unity in the fight against crime.

“We must… make a commitment that we shall continue to act together as a people to confront this terrible scourge of crime, which has taken the lives of too many of our people and does so every day,” Mbeki said.

Senegalese singer Youssou Ndour decried as “terrible” what happened to Dube, saying his murder poses “a big question which South African authorities must provide answers to”.

The award-winning Dube recorded more than 20 albums in a career spanning two decades and was regarded as one of the first artistes to introduce reggae in South Africa.