Police in Gauteng have arrested a man who sustained injuries during the attempted cash-in-transit robbery in Thembisa on Wednesday morning.
Provincial police spokesperson, Lieutenant Colonel Mavela Masondo said preliminary investigation suggests that the cash-in-transit armoured vehicle was rammed by a Mercedes-Benz, and both vehicles caught fire.
“The suspects fired shots at the security guards, injuring one of them,” said Masondo.
“Police responded swiftly, and the suspects fled the scene without taking any cash. One of the suspects was found on the scene and taken to the medical care centre after he sustained injuries. He is under police guard.”
Soon after the incident, police officers from South African Police Service (SAPS) and Ekurhuleni Metro Police Department (EMPD) went searching for the suspects.
“A Mercedes-Benz believed to have been used during the commission of crime was found abandoned on the street of Thembisa, with a rifle inside, and the second Mercedes-Benz, also believed to have been used in the commission of the attempted cash-in-transit robbery was found inside one of the yards in Thembisa,” said Masondo.
One of the Mercedes-Benz vehicles used by the criminals is reported to have been hijacked in Bedfordview.
“Police are still searching for the suspects that are still at large,” said Masondo.
Earlier on Wednesday, IOL reported that police in Gauteng have rescued the latest kidnapping victim, a Portuguese businessman who was snatched from his business premises in Florida on June 24.
National SAPS spokesperson, Brigadier Athlenda Mathe said in the last six months, 12 businessmen and six students who had been kidnapped for ransom have been rescued by a multi-disciplinary team led by the police’s Anti-Kidnapping Task Team.
Mathe said the businessman was rescued a week after he was snatched.
“The SAPS Anti-Kidnapping Task Team, including other law enforcement agencies and private security, have been working around the clock to find the businessman, safe and unharmed. The man was kidnapped from his business premises in Florida on June 24. On Monday evening, July 1, 2024, the team traced the victim to a home in Snake Park, Soweto, where he had been in captivity,” she said.
Mathe said one of the captors of the businessman was arrested that same evening in Turffontein in Johannesburg.
“The 39-year-old suspect is believed to belong to a syndicate that is responsible for at least four other kidnappings where businessmen were the target in the Johannesburg district.
“The team is currently tracing suspects who were working together with the man,” Mathe said.
She further explained in cases where businessmen and students had been rescued, no ransom payment was made as a direct result of the expertise and capabilities of SAPS detectives, the Crime Intelligence Unit, and the collaboration with private security.
IOL