Police arrest 10 more CIT heist suspects
Police Minister, General Bheki Cele, says police have arrested 10 more suspects linked to the recent spike in Cash-in-Transit (CIT) heists across the country.
Leading a briefing on the measures to combat cash-in-transit heists to the Portfolio Committee on Police on Wednesday, Cele said the suspects were arrested across three provinces.
The arrest comes as the police have increased its hand to curb the aggravated robberies, most of which have been staged in brazen daylight, through an intervention unit as well as through partnerships with institutions in the commercial banking industry.
“…Not only were six people arrested yesterday, there were 10 – three from Limpopo, six from Mpumalanga and one in central Johannesburg, who belong to the group that hit Boksburg and the change here, all were arrested before the action,” he said.
National Police Commissioner, General Khehla Sitole, made a request to Members of Parliament for further details not to be provided on the arrests to allow the police officers working on the case some space to make progress.
“My request from the start is that we are not going to share all the information. Within the stabilisation, we have also adopted a takedown approach and as we speak, we are on a night vigil with some of them from yesterday, so there is some information we will not be able to share as we are in execution. But we will try to do as much as we can,” he said.
Making a presentation to the Committee, Lieutenant-General Sehlahle Masemola, the Deputy National Commissioner for Policing, said Limpopo, Gauteng, North West and Mpumalanga were among the provinces that are most affected by cash-in-transit heists, while the Eastern Cape has recorded a slight increase.
He said there has been a slight decrease in the cash-in-transit hits in KwaZulu-Natal, Western Cape, Northern Cape and the Free State.
