THURSDAY, 1.00PM:
DESPITE the highly visible and largely successful cash-in-transit heists of the last few months, overall statistics show that such robberies are in decline. Armed attacks on cash-carrying security vans declined from 410 in 1996 to 230 in 1997.
In Gauteng, armed attacks declined from 86 in 1996 to 51 last year, and in Northern Province, from 127 to just 22.
Deputy police commissioner Zolisa Lavisa said that in the majority of cases involving large amounts of money, “suspects have either been identified or arrested”.
Mpumalanga farmer Piet du Toit, 24, is in critical condition after coming upon an attempted cash-in-transit heist near Badplaas on Wednesday. Du Toit was shot in the left shoulder by the occupants of one of two vehicles attempting to force a Khulani Springbok Patrols armoured van off the road, after they crashed into a wall. Du Toit managed to drive on despite his injuries. The robbery attempt was unsuccessful.