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More than 20 armed gangsters, who have been tormenting police and security guards on the N6 in recent months, pulled off yet another cash-in-transit heist in the early hours of Monday morning.
This is despite beefed-up security efforts to curb the spate of robberies in the area.
This time the robbers used a convoy of vehicles to box in an armoured cash vehicle and force it off the road, where it overturned.
They then engaged in a gun battle with injured security officers before bombing the van open and making off with cash.
Hawks provincial spokesperson Warrant Officer Ndiphiwe Mhlakuvana said the bomb squad was called in because the gang left live explosives behind, resulting in the road having to be closed for eight hours while police defused the bombs and made sure the route was safe for commuters.
This is the second incident in the area involving a large group of assailants.
In September 2023, 16 armed men stripped police officers who pulled them over of their rifles after destroying a cash-in-transit vehicle in Stutterheim.
Police believe — though they have not proved — that the same gang was behind Monday’s attack on an SBV cash van on the N6 between East London and Stutterheim, near Macleantown.
In the latest incident, three security guards were injured after the armoured vehicle landed on its side.
Mhlakuvana said after the shootout between the guards and the gunmen, the attackers fled, allegedly abandoning three vehicles which had been hijacked.
Law enforcement officials and rapid response teams quickly arrived at the scene.
Provincial transport spokesperson Unathi Binqose said authorities called in the bomb squad to deactivate live explosives reportedly still present.
Mhlakuvana said an interim team comprising provincial Hawks investigators tasked to investigate CIT heists was following up leads.
A source told the Dispatch the task team was a joint venture between investigators in the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (Hawks) and police.
At 3.30pm, Hawks officials were still on the scene interviewing witnesses.
The source said the province’s size made it difficult to investigate CIT cases.
“The Eastern Cape is vast. The detectives can be in one part of the province and then an incident happens in another, just like now.
“What I can tell you, though, is that our task team is following the leads.
“The vehicles that were abandoned were reportedly hijacked.”
The brazen heist sent alarm bells ringing at the Cash-In-Transit Association of South Africa (Citasa), whose representatives met provincial Hawks detectives afterwards.
Though Citasa spokesperson Grant Clark could not respond to questions on the robbery by the time of publication, he said it acknowledged that cash-in-transit robberies were a big problem in the Eastern Cape.
“The whole Eastern Cape is out of hand at the moment, especially on that route all the way from Mthatha to KwaBhaca, and especially as we approach month-end with pensions and so on.”
Monday’s incident follows a pattern of recent CIT heists, despite a R100,000 cash reward offered in March by G4S Cash Solutions for whistle-blowers with information on such robberies.
A month ago, two of the company’s armoured vehicles were bombed on major routes, including a vehicle that was forced to stop on the N6 outside Stutterheim.
The driver of the security vehicle was wounded in the subsequent shooting, and guards were robbed of three firearms.
The escort vehicle behind the armoured truck was also intercepted, resulting in a shootout.
This led to G4S intensifying its relations in the province’s security cluster by deploying personnel to the Joint Operation Centre in Zwelitsha, which is responsible for security in the region, particularly on the N6.
G4S Cash Solutions managing director Amit Devir said the CIT attacks were “very concerning”.
G4S worked closely with law enforcement to tackle the heists, and was involved in the monthly joint co-ordination meetings with all the police visible policing units and the Hawks.
“Our investigators work with police to share information and evidence to assist the police to bring criminals to justice.
“The routes on which the attacks took place have been highlighted as high risk.”
The latest incident adds to a troubling trend in the Eastern Cape, which has recorded a rise in CIT heists in 2024.
In the past quarter, the province reported 16 such attacks, a significant increase on the nine cases reported in the preceding three-month period.
This spike is part of a national trend, with CIT robberies up 24% in the first three months of 2023 compared with the same period in 2022.
The increasing violence and sophistication of the heists, often involving heavy firearms and explosives, poses significant risks to both security personnel and the public.
Efforts to curb these crimes are critical as authorities continue to address the escalating threats to public safety in the region.
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