Cops ready to take fight to cash-in-transit criminals, Cele warns

POLICE Minister Bheki Cele says the cops will not lose momentum to tackle cash-in-transit (CIT) heists as they pull together to keep South Africa safe.

“We are going to turn things around. South Africans are going to be safe. We have started. We are not going to let the momentum go down,” Cele said.

He made the statements when stakeholders in the CIT industry appeared before the police portfolio committee in Parliament yesterday.

The meeting, called in the wake of an increase in CIT heists, was aimed at looking at measures to tackle the crime.

Reports presented at the meeting showed that 152 CIT heists, involving R114 million, took place this year, which was more than the overall 136 estimated at R61m last year.

There were 81 incidents between April and May – with Mpumalanga, Limpopo, Gauteng and North West identified as hotspots – with 25 suspects arrested.

“Police are working hard. We have unleashed everybody on the streets – the Special Task Force, the National Intervention Unit, the Tactical Response Unit – so everybody has been unleashed,” he said.

Cele also said police had in their last three operations been proactive and arrested suspects before they could commit acts of crimes.

“Even the intelligence is getting there. We have always been responding and reacting. We move ahead now,” Cele said.

“We are quite comfortable if we keep where we are and improve now. South Africa will be fine,” he said.

Cele said the spike in cash vehicle robberies had really pushed the police, compelling them to buy high-powered vehicles to respond to the crime, often carried out by criminals armed with high-powered weapons.

“They are real performance cars put on the road for quick response. Most of them will be unmarked.”

He was confident that things would change for the better in the police service after the revitalisation of crime intelligence and the Hawks.

National police commissioner Khehla Sitole said the police were close to bringing crime under control.

He said they had a multidisciplinary strategy which involved every stakeholder, as well as chasing the suspects throughout the corners of the country.

“Maybe criminals had better opt for other countries and cross the borders,” he said. “There is willingness among all parties to share one common vision and fight the enemy.”

The head of the Hawks, Godfrey Lebeya, said they would fight the granting of bail to CIT suspects.

“The instruction is that all suspects arrested for cash-in-transit heists, we will oppose bail,” he said.

“There are other feeder crimes to it,” he said, adding that they would deal with corruption within the SA Police Service and cash-in-transit industry.

Sitole said resources had moved to the grassroots level to fight crime where it took place. “That is where we need maximum resources.”