Rubbish bags full of money

2003-12-02 15:09

Cape Town - Cape Town police have arrested four employees of a security company after they apparently faked a robbery of one of their own cash-in-transit vehicles.

Western Cape police commissioner Mzwandile Petros said on Tuesday that large quantities of cash had been found stashed at three different locations.

He said detectives of the serious and violent crimes unit received information last month that certain employees of the Coin Security Group in Cape Town were planning the theft.

They set up an operation, along with officers from crime intelligence and other specialised units, including the special task force and the air wing, that included surveillance of Coin armoured vehicles.

On Monday afternoon this week they were watching one of the vehicles when it was involved in a collision in Almeida Street, Goodwood.

On investigation police discovered there were no firearms or cash in the vehicle. The three crew members were arrested and questioned, which led investigators to a house in Eerste River.

The house was searched and a large amount of cash as well as two 9mm pistols were found hidden in a garage.

An off-duty Coin security guard was subsequently arrested at his house in Eerste River, where R40 00 in cash and a vehicle were confiscated.

Refuse bags

Later the same afternoon detectives found a large amount of cash hidden in black refuse bags in bushes at the edge of the N7 highway near Bothasig Road.

"Investigation has since brought to light that the crew met with the off-duty driver whilst on their rounds collecting cash and later staged the collision, under the pretence of being victims of a robbery," Petros said.

The four, who were all between the ages of 22 and 25, would appear in the Goodwood magistrate's court on Wednesday on charges of theft and conspiracy to theft.

The managing director of Coin's assets in transit division Christo Terblanche was not immediately available to speak to the media.

- SAPA