As police raided a property believed to be a safe house for cash-in-transit (CIT) robbers, one man jumps barefoot over the wall and into a neighbour’s yard and quickly hides what looks like a gun in a dog’s kennel, and then – pretending to be a concerned neighbour – calmly talks to a plainclothes police officer over the wall.
After speaking with him, the officer joined his colleagues to finish the raid. This incident on Monday was captured by CCTV cameras in the neighbourhood when police followed a tip-off to raid a house allegedly used as a hideout by suspects in the violent CIT robbery. The heist took place on Barry Marais Road in Dawn Park, Ekurhuleni, earlier on the day.
A group of eight armed suspects bombed the CIT vehicle, and two bystanders were killed during an exchange of gunfire between the robbers and the police.
The police raided the house in Rondebult, a few kilometres from the crime scene, and found stained cash notes, guns and cars that are believed to have been used in the robbery.
The owner of the house used as a hideout, Kgomotso Zitha, was arrested, while the man who jumped into the neighbour’s yard to hide the gun apparently remains at large. Zitha appeared at the Germiston Magistrates Court on Tuesday on charges of possession of a hijacked vehicle, unlicensed firearm and ammunition. It was postponed to next week.
Police confirmed on Wednesday afternoon that a second suspect had been arrested on the same charges and will appear in court on Thursday.
A neighbour, who asked to remain anonymous out of concerns for his safety, told Sowetan that he was watching TV on Monday afternoon when he heard voices coming from his yard.
“My gate is always locked, so I opened the window and I could see a person standing in my yard speaking with another person over my boundary wall. He was not wearing shoes and I immediately checked my CCTV camera monitors. I saw another one carrying a gun and I was confused. I decided not to go out as it looked dangerous,” he said.
It only dawned on him moments later that the person he saw carrying a gun was one of the robbers and that the man he was speaking to over the wall was a plainclothes police officer, who was searching for anyone who might have escaped the alleged safe house during their raid.
At the hideout property, police recovered a rifle, five magazines loaded with ammunition, several stained banknotes and two vehicles – a silver Mercedes-Benz and a BMW – suspected to have been used in the robbery.
My gate is always locked, so I opened the window and I could see a person standing in my yard speaking with another person over my boundary wall.
— Neighbour
Sowetan reporters visited the double-storey house, which the arrested suspect shared with three tenants.
One of the tenants, who did not want to be named, told of his confusion when he walked into the raid as he was returning to the house from an errand.
“The police told me that they found two cars in the garage. I was shocked because the garage is always locked. I don’t think the owner was part of the heist, but I think they [the robbers] used him to hide the cars. He was arrested, but he kept denying his involvement in the heist,” the tenant said.
Dr Alice Maree, incident and analytical manager at the Cash-In-Transit Association SA, said almost 130 CIT heists have been recorded since the beginning of the year, an average of about 16 robberies a month.
She said CIT robberies had decreased by 18% this year compared to those that took place over the same period last year.
“[But] despite the continuing downward trend ... the industry observes that CIT robbers released on bail or parole often return to CIT robberies. Therefore, the risk remains and requires ongoing vigilance and co-ordinated efforts from all,” Maree said.
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