Heavily armed robbers used a BMW to ram into a cash-in-transit van outside the Lemo Mall shopping centre in Bloemfontein as part of a daring, daylight heist on Saturday, 25 May. They were armed with firearms, destructive devices, and steel-bladed cutters or cutting equipment.
Some of the weapons include an AK-47 rifle and a pistol, with 30 rounds of ammunition. The police managed to confiscate these weapons which form part of the incriminating evidence against the seven arrested suspects.
In addition, the police confiscated steel-bladed cutting equipment, two getaway cars (a Toyota Hilux and Toyota Corolla Cross), clothing the suspects were wearing, and some of the looted money.
The police’s intensive investigations culminated with the arrest of seven of the suspected armed robbers hours later, and the discovery of some the weapons and equipments.
Capt. Loraine Earle, spokesperson of the Free State police, confirmed a police bunny jacket – a police uniform – was among the clothes confiscated during the arrest of the seven suspects.
“The suspects were detected and arrested at different places around Mangaung where they were hiding,” said Earle. She said the successful tracing and arrest of the suspects was the result of a multidisciplinary approach through the police. Earle said no fatality occurred during a shoot out between the armed robbers and law enforcement agents which include the police units and private security personnel.
The Bloemfontein Hawks’ Priority Crime Investigation unit is continuing with investigations regarding the heist. Further probing would entail the background of the brazen armed robbers, their weapons, and the three vehicles used in the commission of the heist.
