MONDAY, 10.30AM:
BANK-ROBBERS made away with R18-million in cash on Saturday after a daring break-in at a bulk deposit depot in Pretoria. Police investigating the robbery, carried out by 15 armed robbers, said it was “very professional and well prepared.” .
Two bank tellers at the Standard, Barclays and Volkskas (SBV) deposit were abducted after office hours on Saturday afternoon, one at his residence and the other outside a supermarket.
They each had one of the two keys needed to unlock the safe, and were taken to the depot and forced to open it. Three security guards on duty were held at gunpoint, while robbers emptied out R18-million in cash from money boxes inside the safe. The guards were taken hostage into the escape vehicle – a grey minibus belonging to an SBV employee – but were later released unharmed.
This is the second massive robbery on SBV this year, after R17-million cash was stolen out of a security vehicle in transit near Bronkhorstspruit. The company has lost R40m to robbers in the past two years, and five employees have been killed. Police are investigating the possibility that this may have been the same gang of robbers. They have not yet ruled out the possibility that the robbery may have been organised by an insider at the bank.