In Mara, South Africa, 20 balaclava-clad gangsters armed with AK-47 assault rifles and revolvers blew off the roof and both sides of a cash transport van, but not the doors.
Gang blitzes cash van in half in botched robbery (SAPS)
by
Jamie Piatt, Bradley Jolly 16:33, June 13, 2024
A clumsy armed robber fails when he attacks a cash transport van and blows up all the stolen goods.
Instead of blowing up the door, the 20-strong gang, wearing balaclavas and armed with AK-47 assault rifles and revolvers, blew off the roof and both sides of the building in an explosion so powerful it blew the Fidelity Group Services armored vehicle in half and blasted much of the cash inside hundreds of feet into the air.
The gang, clad in bulletproof vests, grabbed what intact safes they could and fled the scene in Mullagh, Mpumalanga, South Africa in an ultra-luxury car. Local residents quickly fled their homes, stopping the car to stuff hundreds of pounds worth of loot into their pockets.
South African banknotes in red, blue, pink, brown and green rand coins fluttered to the ground or blew away in the wind, as locals scrambled for the cash. “You know a cash van has been stolen when you hear a loud noise. With any luck, there's a large amount of money left behind before the police arrive,” a witness told local media.
Much of the cash inside was burnt or scattered along the road after Saturday's attack (SAPS)
On Saturday, Fidelity's armored vehicle was being escorted by an armored Toyota Hilux station wagon which was retrieving cash from a store in the town of Turamashe. At about 4pm, two Volkswagen Polos opened fire with automatic weapons on the escort vehicle as it was being transported to Fidelity's local depot. The cash transport vehicle was then pushed off the road and a Mercedes sedan crashed into the armored vehicle. One of the assailants planted explosives, causing the guards inside to disarm and abandon the vehicle, fearing they would be blown up.
An eyewitness, who asked not to be named, said: “There was a loud explosion and when the dust settled the truck was no longer there, it had smashed into pieces and banknotes were raining down into the sky. The robbers didn't seem to know what to do so they grabbed some grey boxes which seemed intact and ran off towards Dwarf Loops, where all the locals then ran after them. I don't know how many were left but they all seemed very excited and just grabbed piles and piles of banknotes until the siren sounded and then they were gone.”
A case record of cash-in-transit robbery, attempted murder and armed robbery has been registered for further investigation. South African Police spokesperson Inspector Dineo Lucy Sekgothodi said: “Local residents stormed the crime scene and looted the remaining cash that was scattered. We urge people not to do this as they risk contaminating the crime scene and there are still undetonated explosives remaining which could explode and cause injuries when retrieving the cash.”
A SAPS officer confirmed that a security officer in the escort vehicle was shot and taken to hospital. The unarmed security officer was not injured, she added. The 20 heavily armed suspects were said to be wearing balaclavas and speaking Zulu. At an earlier meeting, Fidelity's head of security, Waal Baartman, said of the cash-in-transit gangs: “They are like a very militarised terrorist group and they execute their plans well.” His company security officers are killing an average of 15 people a year in cash-in-transit gangs, he said.
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