Cash-In-Transit Heists Worry Police
● Around P7m stolen on Friday
Cash-in-transit robberies have resurfaced with weekly occurrences in the country’s capital city, keeping the police on their toes. Cases of cash-intransit robberies have spiked following a string of armed robbery incidents in Gaborone.
Armed robbers continue to stage heists, overpowering security company guards making off with large sums of money almost every week.
The police have expressed concern over the growing offence during the pandemic following the Friday morning cash-in-transit heist at Middlestar shopping complex in Gaborone. Central Police station commander, Superintendent Mothusi Phadi said a G4S cash-in-transit van was robbed at gunpoint around 10am leaving people reeling in shock.
The heist occurred five days after another G4S cash-in-transit van was also robbed at gunpoint at the Game City mall and the robbers made off with undisclosed amounts of cash. A week before that at the same mall, a Security Services cash-in-transit van was also robbed at gunpoint with the armed robbers getting away with P305,540 that the guards had finished collecting from Concordant Holdings in Block 3, Fours Supermarket in Gaborone West Industrial and Pick n Pay in Game City. Since then the police have been on alert to find and arrest suspects but to no avail.
“Yes, we are investigating another cash-in-transit heist in which three armed men overpowered G4S security guards and made off with cash amounting to P7.4 million, which G4S security guards were supposed the load up in an ATM by Middlestar mall prior to the robbery,” he said.
Phadi raised concerns over the repeat occurrences of security company cashin-transit heists with members of the community across social media platforms sharing their suspicions.
Furthermore, Phadi raised a concern that large sums of money continue to be lost to criminals.
Investigations into the matter are ongoing to arrest the suspects. He said such repeat occurrences are likely to affect the country’s economy in the long run. “This is not good at all because investors might fear to invest in Botswana. It looks like every week there will be a heist and it is not good for the country’s image. Businesspeople are interested in investing in a crime-free and peaceful country and these continuous heists are definitely not helping the situation,” Phadi said.
Phadi pleaded with security company guards to be cautious and to observe their surroundings at all times when collecting and loading cash in ATMs to avoid falling prey to criminals. Meanwhile, Phadi called on security companies to consider using smokeboxes to collect and transport cash.
“I do not know why the majority of security companies no longer use smokeboxes because they are safer than putting cash in plastics.
The good thing with a smokebox is that when criminals forcefully open it, the box will burst and the ink will splash over the banknotes and it will be easy to trace the criminals,” he said. Phadi pleaded with members of the community to help with information that could lead to the arrests of the suspects.