Page 10 - aruba-today-20180714

A10 WORLD NEWS
Saturday 14 July 2018
Cash vans targeted in brazen heists in South Africa

same attack, filmed from
what appears to be a car
showroom at the same in-
tersection, shows smoke
rising after an explosion.
Three blasts are heard.
“Oh my God! Look how
many of them are coming
out,” a woman says as sus-
pects emerge from a car.
A third video of the after-
math shows a badly dam-
aged security van and
banknotes strewn over the
road.
In raids last week, police
arrested a female po-
lice officer who allegedly
stored weapons used in the
Boksburg heist, as well as
her 32-year-old boyfriend.
Nearly two dozen people
were arrested in the sweep.
Gangs involved in such
heists include some people
from neighboring countries
including Botswana, Mo-
zambique and Zimbabwe.
Police Minister Bheki Cele
has said more must be done
to stop related “feeder
In this photo taken Thursday, Oct. 23, 2014, a forensics team searches for clues at the scene of a cash in transit heist near the OR
Tambo Airport in Johannesburg. crimes” including carjack-
Associated Press ing, illegal gun sales and
police corruption. Cash
By CHRIS TORCHIA African anti-crime activist. She declined to say how Security experts say police, heists were down sharply
Associated Press “These people strike with much, though the amount whose response was some- in June compared to May
JOHANNESBURG (AP) — military precision.” is estimated to be at least times lackluster in the past, in a sign of improved polic-
Criminal syndicates in South They might be getting help several million dollars. are more pro-active. ing, he said.
Africa have increased at- from rogue police officers, Unions representing workers Heist methods have var- Security companies, mean-
tacks on security vans trans- and local media have re- involved in the transport of ied over the years. In 1997, while, can do more with
porting large amounts of ported the possible use of cash held protests in major thieves in Bronkhorstspruit technology including dye
cash, brazenly opening fire stolen military weapons in cities in June for more pro- dragged a spike chain that stains money if there
and blowing up vehicles in some heists. There have tection on the job. “Stop across a highway to block is a robbery or a foam that
chaotic scenes that send been 75 attacks on ve- bombing our cash vans,” a security van and killed automatically covers cash
civilians rushing for cover. hicles carrying cash this read a sign at a march in two guards. The hit was in a vehicle’s vault and
Some bystanders manage year, compared to 31 in Cape Town. reminiscent of a scene in makes it impossible to re-
to film the urban, often the same period in 2017, A parliamentary commit- the 1995 movie “Heat” in move, said Abramjee, the
daylight attacks and post said Kalyani Pillay, CEO of tee held a hearing on the which a gang uses a spike anti-crime activist.
the footage on social me- the South African Banking attacks. strip to thwart police pursuit About 200 people are be-
dia, magnifying concerns Risk Information Centre, or Meanwhile, the rate of at- after robbing an armored lieved to be “spearhead-
in a country that struggles SABRIC. Just under 40 per- tacks on security guards car. ing” the attacks in South Af-
with a high rate of violent cent of the attacks were transporting cash on foot Today, heist teams in South rica, one security company
crime. thwarted. Two civilians, one between, for example, a Africa can consist of 10 to said in response to ques-
Authorities are boosting in- police officer, five guards business and a vehicle has 15 people who blow open tions from The Associated
telligence work and other and nine suspects were dropped. armor-plated security ve- Press. There have been 27
efforts to tackle the heav- killed in this year’s robber- That suggests criminal syn- hicles with commercial ex- attacks on Fidelity Security
ily armed gangs, whose ies and another 93 people dicates are going after plosives possibly siphoned Group vans this year and
members appear to have were injured, Pillay said. more vehicles on the road off from the mining industry. just under half were “suc-
specific roles: shooter, look- Thieves carrying out such because they are likely The teams seem comfort- cessfully defended,” it said.
out, driver. heists have stolen 63 per- to yield more loot — and able making their move in Four employees were killed
“It’s almost like everyone’s cent more money this year that the thieves think they crowded areas. and 55 were injured.
got a skill of his own,” said than in the same period in can get away with it, partly Video of an attack on se- The company said it has
Yusuf Abramjee, a South 2017, according to Pillay. due to heavy firepower. curity vans in May in Boks- spent millions of dollars
burg, near Johannesburg, to upgrade vehicles, in-
shows a man with a long crease training and take
rifle, apparently a lookout, other measures against the
kneeling at an intersection. threat. “Unfortunately, as
An explosion is heard and we introduce more mea-
gunfire crackles. A couple sures on land and in the
of motorists do hurried U- air, the modus operandi of
/arubatoday/ turns to escape the scene. criminals also evolves,” Fi-
Separate video of the
delity said.q