Cops chase three down after ATM heist in Fort Beaufort

THREE men believed to have carried out a cash-in-transit heist in Fort Beaufort on Tuesday were arrested within hours of the robbery.

A cash security van was held up and robbed in front of the town’s SuperSpar store at 11.40am. The three men, aged between 29 and 34, were arrested at 3.30pm.

Security guards were about to deposit money into an ATM when they were accosted by assailants who disarmed them and fled with the cash, police said.

Swift police reaction led to the arrests. Four firearms and cash believed to be stolen loot was recovered when they were arrested in Mdeni village near Healdtown.

Provincial Hawks spokeswoman Captain Anelisa Feni said the three would appear in the local magistrate’s court tomorrow.

These arrests come just days after a similar armed heist was pulled off in Alice, about 20km away, on Saturday. This was when Border mini cricket coach Sive Hlatuka was shot dead, allegedly by security guards who mistakenly thought he was part of an armed gang that just robbed them at the Kwantu mall.

However, Feni said there was no link between the Alice and Fort Beaufort robberies.

Provincial police spokeswoman Captain Mali Govender yesterday said that when their teams were in hot pursuit of the suspects they had recovered a white Renault nearby that was apparently abandoned by the fleeing suspects. “Further on, a white [Toyota] Avanza was recovered in Mdeni village in the Healdtown area, while the three suspects were arrested in possession of four firearms, including one stolen in KwaZakhele, Port Elizabeth, in April,” Govender said.

Feni said another of the four firearms belonged to the security guard who was disarmed in the robbery.

Provincial police commissioner Lieutenant-General Liziwe Ntshinga yesterday commended the police for their swift response.

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