NINE alleged bank thieves might have thought they hit the jackpot when they broke into a bank on Voortrekker Road just after midnight on Sunday, October 11.
A sector police officer responding to a complaint, about an alarm that went off, quickly foiled their plans.
Sergeant Phora Nkuna, Alberton Police Station spokesperson, said the responding police officer gave chase and arrested four men running inside the bank premises.
A suspect’s cellphone starting ringing after the police had confiscated the thieves’ phones and when police answered it, another suspect said that he had broken a window from inside the bank’s premises but that he was unable to see his counterparts.
“That is when police realised that there were still more suspects inside the bank and then called for backup,” explained Nkuna.
Alberton Sector teams, the East Rand Flying Squad and several security companies responded to the call.
Nkuna said the bank manager was called and asked to open the bank and when they entered five more suspects were caught as they were busy drilling a hole into a safe, unaware that their counterparts had been arrested. The nine suspects were between 36 and 65 years of age.
“It was discovered that the suspects managed to gain entry through the back door after allegedly grinding a hole through it.”
The arrested suspects used brand new equipment with an estimated value of R20 000 during the break-in.
Nkuna said the case will now be investigated by the provincial investigation team.
