/ 29 March 2006

Airport officials arrested after major heist

Three Airports Company South Africa (Acsa) officials have been arrested for the multimillion-dollar heist at Johannesburg International airport over the weekend, police said on Wednesday.

The two men and a woman are among five people taken into custody for the robbery so far.

Two foreign nationals were arrested at South Africa’s Beit Bridge border post with Zimbabwe two hours after the robbery on Saturday, said police Superintendent Vish Naidoo.

All five were expected to appear in the Kempton Park Magistrate’s Court on Wednesday morning.

While gunmen held up guards at the airport gates on Saturday, others armed with AK-47 assault rifles held up guards and police at a South African Airways aircraft and helped themselves to bags of currency flown in from Britain.

No shots were fired and no one was injured.

Naidoo said detectives have recovered an undisclosed amount of money, two rifles, a pistol, a bolt cutter, magazines and ammunition. More arrests could follow, he added.

Naidoo said earlier it was not known how the men gained access to the airport.

He could not confirm reports that $16,5-million (about R103,8-million) was taken in the heist. — Sapa