Airport robbery an 'inside job'
2001-12-30 22:26
Johannesburg - Three security guards who were held at gunpoint while robbers seized containers with goods worth millions at Johannesburg International Airport last week, will appear in the Kempton Park Magistrate's Court on charges of armed robbery on Tuesday.
Provincial police spokesperson Senior Superintendent Mary Martins-Engelbrecht said investigating officers had decided to provisionally charge the three guards. "We are not sure if they were indeed involved in the robbery, but have decided to charge them."
She said although the guards had not been charged with complicity or conspiracy but armed robbery, it did not make the chances of a guilty verdict any greater. Between five and eight robbers attacked the goods division of the airport and made off with R113 million in dollar notes, approximately R1.1 million in diamonds and jewellery worth R94 000.
The diamonds and jewellery were destined for a South African company and the cash for Angola. The container with cash, diamonds and jewellery came from Amsterdam. The Sunday Independent on Sunday said the diamonds and jewellery were destined for Ram International, South Africa's biggest diamond exporter.
The Sunday paper states that Graeme Lazarus, Joint Managing Director of Ram International, said the robbery was "without question an inside job". He apparently saw video material of the robbery four hours after it had happened.
He said as soon as the guards started opening the containers, one of them took out a cellphone and a minute later the robbers arrived.
"They (the robbers) even got them (the guards) to help load the goods on their truck. They did not take their (the guards) weapons. It is a joke."
Lazarus allegedly added that airport and police sources said the guards' versions were fairly conflicting. In the meantime, a man who had apparently been one of the robbers was shot and killed at his sister's house in Dawn Park, Boksburg, just after 06:00 on Saturday.
After firing several warning shots, police shot the 37-year-old man while he was trying to scale a wall. The suspected robber died on the
scene.
The female security guard, who was wounded in the left leg with an AK-47 during the robbery when she approached the robbers' car, is recuperating in hospital.
The woman was in a satisfactory condition in hospital. Due to the security risk, the name of the hospital could not be released, Martins-Engelbrecht said.