The Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (known as the Hawks) in Mpumalanga launched a manhunt to find an additional suspect linked to the August 11 cash-in-transit heist where a Fidelity armoured truck was heavily bombed and an amount of R8,000 in coins was stolen.
Provincial Hawks spokesperson, Captain Dineo Lucy Sekgotodi said 29-year-old Zola Martin Mnisi, of Swalala Trust in Mpumalanga is allegedly linked to the heist.
“The suspect was linked to a cash-in-transit robbery which happened in Malelane on August 11, 2023,” said Sekgotodi.
On the day, Sekgotodi said an armoured Fidelity vehicle was travelling from Malelane, towards Tonga when it came under attack from armed assailants.
“Approximately 15 kilometres from the N4, the armoured vehicle was rammed by a C-Class Mercedes-Benz. The armoured vehicle lost control and overturned. It was then bombed, and an undisclosed amount of money was stolen,” she said.
The money was destined for a business operating in Tonga.
“During the investigation, Mnisi was allegedly linked to the incident. The report was presented before the Nkomazi Magistrate’s Court and a warrant for his arrest was authorised,” said Sekgotodi.
Meanwhile, provincial head of the Hawks in Mpumalanga, Major General Nicholas Gerber has appealed to community members across the province to join the police in the fight against rampant crime.
After the incident, the Hawks in Mpumalanga said the money stolen from the crime scene was R8,000 in coins.
Last week, three other men, taxi driver Mosa Bhekifa Ngwenyama, 30, a 24-year-old Malawian national, Ali Obi Ebrahim who is a spaza shop cashier and 44-year-old Mfanasibili Lawrence Lubisi appeared in court after they were arrested for the same cash-in-transit robbery.
The Hawks in Mpumalanga said Lubisi works as a messenger for the Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development and is the homeowner at the premises where police seized several items, including two stolen vehicles, a Ford Ranger Wildtrak and a Mercedes-Benz ML350.
IOL