Police in Hazyview is investigating a Cash-In-Transit (CIT) incident that reportedly occurred on the R40 Road near Hazyview earlier today, Wednesday 25 January 2023 around 10:00 am. During the incident, a security guard who also worked as a co-driver was fatally shot meanwhile other guards sustained minor injuries. The suspects then fled the scene with an undisclosed amount of cash.
According to the information, a group of about 15 armed suspects attacked security guards who were traveling toward Hazyview in two vans. The suspects are said to have used the Mercedes Benz sedan they were driving to collide head-on with the cash van. The suspects further fired some shots at the guards, resulting in one security guard losing his life after sustaining serious injuries. Thereafter the suspects reportedly robbed the guards of their firearms and then detonated some explosives. The Mercedes Benz they were using as well as the security van was destroyed by the fire during the incident.
The suspects are said to have then helped themselves where they reportedly took an undisclosed amount of cash and then fled the scene in a Jeep Cherokee, SUV Kia, as well as a Ford Ranger double cab bakkie. They reportedly took the direction of Masoyi and members of the police in collaboration with other security forces joined hands in the pursuit of the suspects. There was a second shootout between the suspects and law enforcement agencies.
Later, one of the robbed firearms, a revolver was recovered at the scene. Further than that, an undisclosed amount of cash that was stolen during the incident was found in the nearby bushes.
Whilst police were busy processing the scene one Sanral employee responsible for cleaning up the roads was found in possession of an undisclosed amount of cash which is suspected to have been stolen out of the safe of the damaged cash van. The 32-year-old was immediately arrested on charges of theft and he will appear before the Hazyview Magistrate’s Court on 26 January 2023.
The Provincial Commissioner of the SAPS in Mpumalanga, Lieutenant General Semakaleng Daphney Manamela has strongly condemned the senseless killing of the security guard whilst a team of experts in the field of investigation was immediately assembled under her leadership to probe this incident with a mandate to swiftly bring perpetrators thereof to book.
