Two suspects are due to appear in the Mossel Bay Magistrate’s Court today on charges of attempted robbery and robbery of a firearm, following their failed heist of a cash-in-transit van.
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According to the Western Cape spokesperson for the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (Hawks), Zinzi Hani, this comes following the attempted robbery on 6 December last year.
The Hawks spokesperson explained that an armoured vehicle was allegedly attacked by six men while it was stationed at an Engen garage on the outskirts of Mossel Bay.
“The suspects robbed the crewman of his official firearm,” said Hani.
“They then tried to access the vault of the vehicle but couldn’t access the money and they left the scene with a getaway vehicle that was later found abandoned,” Hani said.
Hani said that the preliminary investigation into the matter saw officials identify one of the suspects on Thursday.
“The George DPCI National Priority Violent Crimes Investigation team together with members of the Garden route flying squad operationalised information received and arrested two suspects in the Thembalethu area.”
“The suspects are expected to appear in the Mossel Bay Magistrates Court on January 6, 2023,” Hani said, adding that more arrests are imminent.
Meanwhile, in an unrelated incident, four suspects were arrested by the Hawks Economic Protected Resources (EPR) and South African Narcotics Enforcement Bureau (SANEB) teams, together with Crime Intelligence and officials from the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment for allegedly running an abalone-processing facility.
“The multi-disciplinary team uncovered an illegal abalone drying facility in Killarney Gardens during a search and seizure operation on Monday, January 2, 2023.”
“The team found 8 993 units weighing 2 475,91 kg of wet abalone, kept in plastic buckets, with an estimated street value of more than R4.5 million,” Hani said.
“Four suspects aged between 24 and 39 were arrested.”
They appeared in the Cape Town Magistrate’s Court on Wednesday.
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