Cape Town - Two suspects who failed in their attempt to rob a cash-in-transit van are expected to appear in the Mossel Bay Magistrate’s Court on Friday.
The two men, aged 32 and 36 face charges of attempted robbery and robbery of a firearm.
According to the Western Cape spokesperson for the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (Hawks), Zinzi Hani this follows the attempted heist on December 6, 2022.
She said an armoured vehicle was allegedly attacked by six men while stationed at an Engen garage outside Mossel Bay.
“The suspects robbed the crewman of his official firearm.
“They then tried to access the vault of the vehicle but couldn’t access the money and they left the scene with a getaway vehicle that was later found abandoned,” Hani said.
She said preliminary investigation into the matter had officials identify one of the suspects on January 4, 2023.
“The George DPCI National Priority Violent Crimes Investigation team together with members of the Garden route flying squad operationalised information received and arrested two suspects in the Thembalethu area.
“The suspects are expected to appear in the Mossel Bay Magistrates Court on January 6, 2023,” Hani said.
She said more arrests are imminent.
In a separate incident, the Hawks Economic Protected Resources (EPR) and South African Narcotics Enforcement Bureau (SANEB) teams together with Crime Intelligence and officials from the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment arrested four suspects for allegedly running an abalone-processing facility.
“The multi-disciplinary team uncovered an illegal abalone drying facility in Killarney Gardens during a search and seizure operation on Monday, January 2, 2023.
“The team found 8 993 units weighing 2 475,91 kg of wet abalone, kept in plastic buckets, with an estimated street value of more than R4.5 million,” Hani said.
Four suspects aged between 24 and 39 were arrested.
They appeared in the Cape Town Magistrate’s Court on Wednesday, January 4, 2023.
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