CIT heists in North West: Suspects make it away with undisclosed amount of cash [photos]

The Minister of Police, Bheki Cele was confident of his team’s work in “breaking the backs” of cash-in-transit (CIT) syndicates when he addressed the media at the Government Communications & Information Systems (GCIS) in Hatfield, Pretoria on Tuesday. He also did mention that CIT heists are a war that is far from over.

Bheki Cele targets North West as Cash-in-transit (CIT) heists hotspots

Cele, detailing the successes of the National Stabilisation Intervention project, made it clear that his goal is to stop the syndicates from achieving any more success in robbing money trucks.

He identified the North West region as one of the most critical parts of the operation, as it has been named one of the central hotspots of the syndicates’ operations.

Read – CIT heists in numbers: Bheki Cele claims police are winning the battle

In his own words, the Minister of Police added that

“During the period of April to July 2018 National Stabilisation Interventions were directed at addressing identified priority provinces known as Northern Provinces to focus on cash in transit (CIT) heists particularly after the sudden upsurge in CIT robberies during April and May this year.

“During the heists armoured vehicles were being attacked by robbers with heavy calibre weapons and sometimes even explosives namely Gauteng, North West, Mpumalanga, and Limpopo provinces”.

Cele revealed, to the satisfaction of his audience and the watching nation, that since the observed period, they have successfully arrested 230 CIT robbers. He also stated that CIT heists have been reduced by 36% since last year.

However, he had failed to mention that, just hours before he was due to address the media, there had been a CIT heist in the North West, on the N18 highway between Vryburg and Pudimoe.

CIT heist syndicate attacks money truck in North West [photos]

The information was revealed by the Intelligence Bureau of South Africa’s Facebook page and further corroborated by @crimeairnetwork on Twitter on Tuesday afternoon.

It is alleged that an unidentified number of suspects derailed the money truck from its path in an attempt to retrieve the money inside.

We have reached out to the police in the North West, Vryburg region for confirmation on whether any money was stolen and whether the drivers of the money truck survived the attack. However, we have not received any helpful information at this point.

It is alleged that the suspects made it off in a Hyundai H1. The suspects abandoned a lot of the heavy artillery they used, as well as the vehicles they used to rob the truck. The police will have to rely on the data linked to each vehicle’s V/N number since it was discovered that their registration plates were forged.