At around 17:20 on Friday 20 November the traffic was heavy on the P111 when a group of armed robbers struck a Fidelity cash-in-transit vehicle before their eyes. The incident happened in the left-hand lane towards Westonaria, just before the turnoff to the Goldfields West Private Golf Club.
The motorists could not believe their eyes when the robbers forced the van to stop after ramming into it with a silver BMW X3 SUV. Police later determined that the vehicle had been hijacked in Cleveland in Johannesburg.
The robbers then proceeded to blow the vehicle up in full view of the other motorists.
Ms Marianna van Wyk, a motorist who happened to arrive at the scene as the robbery was taking place, shared a video on Facebook of what she and her husband saw while they were stuck on the road near the incident. One can hear the robbers firing some shots on the video. She described the incident as a “near-death experience”.
Once police members arrived at the scene shortly afterwards, they had their hands full keeping bystanders from trampling on evidence at the crime scene. Some of the cash was scattered all over the site.
An undisclosed amount of money was stolen during the incident. At the time of the newspaper going to print, police were still investigating the incident.
